Peden follows in his dad’s footsteps by winning Mulhern Cup with Rangers

JOEL Peden admitted that his dad’s influence had been a major factor in the talented young goalkeeper joining Enniskillen Rangers Football Club at the start of the season.

On Friday night Peden junior followed in his dad John’s footsteps by helping Rangers to Mulhern Cup glory at Ferney Park.

Rangers defeated NFC Kesh 3-2 in a thrilling encounter and the winning goal came from a quick kick-out by the towering young stopper which ended up with Jason Keenan steering the ball into a gaping net.

It was Rangers’ first triumph in 23 years. The last time the Enniskillen club won the famed trophy was in 1999 when standing between the sticks was Joel’s father John.

During Friday night’s celebrations Joel said he joined Rangers to win trophies and he hoped that winning the Mulhern was the first of many.

“Rangers have been winning Juniors (Cup) and leagues and the Mulhern Cup was the one they were missing,” he said.

“So I was glad to get that as my first, hopefully I can push on now in the next couple of seasons.

“Obviously my dad played at Rangers, so it’s nice to follow in his footsteps. He was a big part of it, for sure.

“Rangers is a great club, a family club. The closeness of everyone is unreal, different class.

“I’ve played in a Mulhern semi before and got beat so it was nice to get one step further in reaching the final and then one step more to get the winners’ medal. It’s an unreal feeling and now hopefully we can keep going next season.”

In Friday evening’s pulsating contest Neil Coulter’s team were 2-0 up and a man up after 32 minutes. In between goals by Stuart Rainey and Eoin McManus, NFC Kesh had defender Justin Palmer sent off for taking down Jason Keenan as the last man.

But the ten men of Kesh fought back. A Ryan Campbell strike before half-time gave Scott Robinson’s side real hope and when the same player netted a second from the penalty spot midway through the second period all bets were off.

The momentum appeared to be with Kesh but two minutes from time a quick kick-out by Peden and a mistake by his opposite number Stefan McCusker allowed Keenan in to score the winner.

Reflecting a thrilling encounter Peden continued, “With Kesh down to 10 men and two nil up we should have been safe enough but anything can happen in football.

“It just goes to show you should never give up and we nicked it in the end. We made hard work of it in the end up, finally one long ball up and it paid off. We nicked it in the last minute, that’s the best way to win it.”

On his part in the winning goal Joel added, “I was looking for Jay on the left and it went down the middle. It paid of anyway and I don’t care now!”