Anthony Bloch says not even the sight of his Republic side clinching cup glory can soothe the pain of missing out on the MJSL league title.
Bloch was left devastated after his men were beaten to the top prize by Manchester Maccabi 3rd following their defeat in the title decider.
But they bounced back to take the Faye and Henry Trophy with victory over Haroldeans, thanks to second-half goals from Jamie Lyons, Dave Eden and Jonny Alexander.
"I'm obviously delighted that we won some silverware but I don't think it makes up for missing out on the league," he said. "I don't think we'll get over it for a while because it's something we wanted so badly.
"It was a big blow to take, and although it's great to have some silverware, it would have been better if we'd managed to go all the way this season.
"Having also lost in the semi-finals of the Feldman Trophy, I warned the lads we could end up with egg on our faces if we won nothing.
"But we bounced back with a good display."
After a goalless first-half at Salford FC, Republic grabbed the lead when Lyons bravely headed home from close-range after Haroldeans failed to clear. Josh Silverberg and Dan Berman both had chances to equalise but Eden curling effort soon killed off any hopes of a Haroldeans fight-back.
Alexander slotted home a third late on after Mike Cross had parried the defender's initial effort as Republic wrapped up the win.
"Haroldeans haven't had a great season by their standards but they're still a difficult team to beat," said Bloch.
Bloch is adamant Republic will be serious league challengers once again and is already gearing up for next season. "We had a three-year plan for the club and we're on track so far having come third last year and won a trophy and now second and won a cup," he added.
"This year we slipped up and perhaps we began to believe we were invincible when we had that 14-match unbeaten streak at the start of 2011. Perhaps that was our undoing but when I look at the season as a whole, you can tell that the progression is there. We're moving in the right direction."