Mooney playing for more than honours

FAI Cup Final Countdown:For most Longford Town players it seems Sunday's FAI Cup final against Cork City at the RDS will end with goodbyes. Win or lose, the team that was relegated a few weeks ago is set to break up, with the form of many during the last few months ensuring they will get the chance to stay on in the Premier division.

With 19 league goals, though, and three more in the cup campaign, Dave Mooney's future looks particularly bright. A couple of years ago the young striker had no option but to leave Shamrock Rovers, the club he supported growing up. But the 23-year-old from Tallaght has bounced back in some style and is now aiming to make a real name for himself in the full-time game.

"Leaving Rovers was hard, I never wanted to go, but I was sort of forced out because of the situation at the club at the time. But Longford's gone well for me. I've worked hard to improve myself as a player but it's paid off and now I'd like to see what I can achieve as a full-time pro.

"At some stage in the future I'd love to end up back at Rovers but for the moment I'm looking at clubs that can offer me the chance to put all my energy into my football."

Mooney divides his time between the CIE Works in Inchicore, where he is an electrician, and the football field. "They've always been good to me in work," he says, "but you always want to know what you could achieve if you were giving the game everything."

Whether his next stop is here or England will not, he says, be decided until after Sunday's game. "There have been a few offers from English clubs but there are positives about staying here too. There's the prospect of maybe playing European football, for a start, and the standard here at the top clubs is very high. That really came home to me when I joined up with the Ireland under-23 squad recently and saw how good everyone was in training. Then, when we played Slovakia, we played the ball around more than they did, we kept it better, which was sort of surprising."

The international game came immediately after the club's relegation had been confirmed. Longford had gone into their last game needing to beat Derry and Rovers do them a favour by seeing off Waterford. The first part came off thanks to a Mooney hat-trick. Sadly for the striker and his current team-mates, his former club could manage no more than a draw.

"Going down the way we did was a blow to everyone but I don't think it's affected morale the way it would have if there hadn't been the six point deduction and the players were left thinking they hadn't been good enough to stay up.

"As it was, we would have finished eighth and so there's a fair bit of confidence in the team. And we all have something to play for, especially any of the lads who are still maybe waiting for a phone call for next year, it's a great opportunity to make an impression."

Cork City's three league wins over Longford this season would indicate they're doing something right, but the statistics also suggest that Mooney, who didn't score in either of his two appearances against City this year, might just be due one this weekend. In any event, it may only prove another stepping stone to bigger things.