HIS TEAM MANAGED to keep Dundalk scoreless for the fifth time in their last six meetings, but Cork City manager John Caulfield’s post-match press conference last night at Turner’s Cross was dominated by the untimely departure of Kenny Browne.
Browne joined City from St Patrick’s Athletic ahead of the beginning of last season and formed a successful partnership with Alan Bennett at the centre of Cork City’s defence, as the Leesiders conceded fewer league goals than any other Premier Division side in 2016.
However, according to Caulfield, the 30-year-old is now a Waterford FC player.
After City defeated Dundalk 3-0 last night to win the President’s Cup at Turner’s Cross, Caulfield confirmed that the club have reluctantly accepted an undisclosed fee for Browne from his hometown club. Browne’s potential departure had been rumoured on Leeside recently, but Caulfield said an agreement has only been reached this week.
“He [Browne] informed me a few times in the last six weeks that he wanted to go,” Caulfield said.
“Then he decided he didn’t [want to go], but eventually then on late Wednesday night he informed us that he wants to go; doesn’t want to play with the club.”
In his only season with Cork City, Browne won the FAI Cup and President’s Cup. He also played an important part in the club’s Europa League run, which included wins over Linfield and BK Hacken prior to their elimination at the hands of KRC Genk.
Under the stewardship of new chairman Lee Power, Waterford have been rebuilding since the end of last season. With Pat Fenlon in charge, the club are seeking to return to the Premier Division. Browne will be the fourth player to move to the club from Cork City, following in the footsteps of Mark O’Sullivan, Dave Mulcahy and Matthew Connor.
“From my point of view here, while it was disappointing at the end of the day, there had been issues in the sense that they [Waterford] had been onto him in the last two months, non-stop, every day. It was affecting the squad, it was affecting things in the club and I suppose at the end of the day we need passionate players here, we need people who want to win.
“I always say this: if you don’t have a happy squad, you’ve no chance. While I’m disappointed and Kenny was very good for me last year, ultimately his head was turned since Christmas and he was just doing everything to get out. Sometimes you just have to make that decision.”
Goals from Sean Maguire, Kevin O’Connor and Karl Sheppard gave Cork City a 3-0 win last night in front of 3,140 supporters at Turner’s Cross. It was a disappointing evening’s work for Dundalk, who had Ciaran Kilduff stretchered off in added time with a severe gash in his leg following a collision with Cork City goalkeeper Mark McNulty.
With Alan Bennett and John Dunleavy out injured, and Browne heading for the exit door, new signing Ryan Delaney was handed a debut at the heart of the Cork City defence following his loan move from Burton Albion. He was partnered by midfielder Conor McCormack, whose performance was praised afterwards by Caulfield.
“When you have players with hearts like that, that’s what you need over the long slog of the next eight months,” Caulfield said. “You have a chance when you have players like that and that’s the most important thing.”
The Cork City boss, who described the situation with Kenny Browne as “a bit of a soap opera”, added: “At the end of the day, when a player informs you that he doesn’t want to play with the club anymore, you try to get it resolved and that was probably the most disappointing thing about it because we treated him really, really well here.
“The fans liked him, I was mad about him but it is annoying when a fella says he doesn’t want to play for you. But at the end of the day, you deal with it. You move on and we’ve moved on. The players knew yesterday that that was the situation.
“He’s not going to be our player from tomorrow onwards. We need players out there to do what they did tonight, and drive on for the rest of the season. It’s going to be a long, hard season but with fellas with passion and ability like we had there, we’ll be fine.”
Cork City have added Delaney and Shane Griffin to their defensive options during the off-season, while the addition of Lithuanian U21 international Rimvydas Sadauskas is also expected to be announced in the coming days as the club comes to terms with Browne’s departure.
Caulfield said: “It’s part of the situation where, basically he [Browne] was brilliant for me last year. But at the same time, he didn’t want to be part of a league challenge, he didn’t want to play in Europe, and in fairness to him he told me all those things.
“Sometimes fellas are shocked. Nothing shocks me nowadays.”
