CORK CITY CELEBRATED 30 years in existence last year, and the club will mark another significant milestone this Tuesday night.
City’s SSE Airtricity League Premier Division meeting with Galway United at Turner’s Cross will be the Leesiders’ 1,000th league fixture since being established in 1984.
Five years on from having their holding company wound up due to financial difficulties, it’s an occasion to be proud of for the club, whose supporters prevented Cork City FC from going out of existence in 2010.
As City prepare for the landmark fixture, we challenged ourselves to rank the 10 best players ever to represent them. Narrowing it down wasn’t easy, but here’s what we came up with…
10. George O’Callaghan
He often divided opinion among Cork City supporters, but even O’Callaghan’s biggest detractors would struggle to argue against the view that when he was good, he was very, very good. A key member of the team that won the Premier Division title in 2005 (he was Player of the Year), O’Callaghan was one of the most technically gifted players the League of Ireland has seen in recent years. He had three spells with Cork City in total and also played for the likes of Ipswich Town and Brighton. O’Callaghan, who’s still only 35, hasn’t played since 2012 and was last seen managing Malaysian Premier League club Sabah, before being let go in January. O’Callaghan never truly fulfilled his potential, but he still did enough to earn the right to be known as ‘The King’ by the Shed End faithful.
9. Dan Murray
Aside from two seasons at Shamrock Rovers, Murray has been a Cork City player since he joined from Peterborough United in 2002. A solid and reliable defender, Murray also scored plenty of important goals for the club in both domestic and European competitions; Nicosia in 2006 will live long in the memory for City fans. One of only two current players to feature here, Murray has captained Cork City to Premier Division, FAI Cup and Setanta Cup titles. He had competition for a place in our list from fellow centre-halves like Alan Bennett, Derek Coughlan and Dave Hill, but the 32-year-old Cambridge native edges it as a result of his loyalty and leadership — both on and off the field — through some difficult times for the club.
8. Declan Daly
Nine years after the club was established, Cork City were Premier Division champions. It was versatile defender Daly who captained them to the title in 1993, after they emerged victorious from a three-way play-off with Bohemians and Shelbourne. The former St Mary’s and Limerick player, who retired in 2003 at the age of 37, also guided the club to FAI Cup and League Cup titles during his time as skipper, and was comfortable playing at right-back or centre-half. An astute defender who read the play brilliantly, Daly was hard-working and tough-as-nails. Many a novena was said for any opposing player who was brave enough to enter a 50/50 challenge with Deccie.
7. Ollie Cahill
Those cold Sunday afternoons standing in the Shed during the late 90s were often only bearable for Cork City fans thanks to Ollie Cahill’s pace and trickery on the left-wing. After a spell with Northampton Town, he joined City in 1996 and spent six seasons with the club, during which he won FAI Cup and League Cup medals. Cahill angered City fans in 2002 when he left for Shelbourne, and his subsequent returns to Turner’s Cross were generally greeted by a chorus of boos. A Tipperary man abandoning Cork for Dublin? That was never likely to go down well on Leeside, but it still doesn’t harm Cahill’s status as one of the greatest players ever to represent Cork City.
6. Joe Gamble
Nowadays he’s plying his trade in Brunei with DPMM FC, but Gamble was a cornerstone of Cork City’s midfield for a seven-year spell — his second with the club — after returning from Reading in 2004. Defensively sound and creative in attack, the combative Gamble tasted Premier Division, FAI Cup and Setanta Cup success, and also picked up two Republic of Ireland caps while he was a Cork City player. He attracted plenty of attention from clubs both at home (St Pat’s were often keen) and in the UK, before leaving for Hartlepool United in 2010 when City found themselves in financial trouble.
5. John O’Flynn
George O’Callaghan may have been known as ‘The King’ to Cork City fans, but ‘God’ is unmistakably John O’Flynn. Persistent injuries prevented the Cobh native from realising his massive potential, but he averaged just shy of a goal every two games when playing for the club between 2002 and 2008, a stint during which he claimed Premier Division and FAI Cup medals. Kevin Doyle — although a winger with Cork City more often than not — went on to have a more illustrious career, but when fully fit and in form, the majority of City fans favoured O’Flynn. The 32-year-old later played for Barnet (where he was Player of the Season in 2008/09) and Exeter City, before returning to City last year.
4. Pat Morley
He returned after a couple of years, but some Cork City fans struggled to forgive Pat Morley after he left Leeside for Shelbourne. Nevertheless, Morley remains a City legend and holds the record — along with John Caulfield — as the leading goalscorer in the club’s history (129 each). During his first spell with City (1989 to ’96), ‘Skippy’ was a Premier Division and League Cup winner, as well as being named PFAI Player of the Year in ’91. He came back to Cork from Shels in ’98, before hanging up his boots in 2002. An old-fashioned poacher, Morley was the Premier Division’s top scorer twice — 1992/93 and 1999/00.
3. John Caulfield
His partnership with Pat Morley was probably the most feared in the League of Ireland throughout the 90s, and the pair ended their careers with the club with 129 goals each. Caulfield played for City for 15 seasons and remains the club’s record appearance holder, having lined out for the Leesiders on no fewer than 455 occasions between 1986 and 2001. He won a Premier Division title, an FAI Cup and three League Cups, and is currently aiming to replicate that success as the club’s manager. Born in New York, raised in Roscommon, but Cork to the core.
2. Patsy Freyne
As everyone in Cork knows, Patsy would have played for Barcelona if he’d packed in the smoking. Before some of those Sunday afternoon kick-offs in the 90s, pre-match rumours would circulate in the Shed that Patsy was doubtful as he’d been out the night before. If that really was the case then City fans never complained, because the creative midfielder always produced the goods. The Turner’s Cross tales of Patsy’s off-the-field adventures are generally embellished, but the recollections of how good he was certainly aren’t. Because Patsy was an exceptionally gifted player with a unique eye for a pass. Caulfield and Morley applied the finishing touches, but Patsy was often the creator. A magician who played a vital role in City’s silverware haul during the 90s.
1. Dave Barry
Choosing between Pasty Freyne and Dave Barry for top spot wasn’t easy, but for all of Patsy’s brilliance, it’s very difficult to justify putting anyone ahead of Dave Barry in a ranking of Cork City greats. A two-time All-Ireland winner with the Cork senior footballers, he played in City’s very first competitive game as a club in September 1984 and stuck with them until he retired in ’95. A dynamic midfielder, Barry scored European goals against Galatasaray and Bayern Munich — a nice response to Steffan Effenberg’s pre-match jibe about Barry looking like his grandfather. As a Cork City player, he won the Premier Division and two League Cups, before taking over as manager and adding an FAI Cup and another League Cup.
Dowcha Davey Barry boy!
So no place for internationals like Kevin Doyle, Damien Delaney, Colin Healy and Alan Bennett, or Turner’s Cross stalwarts like Derek Coughlan and Dave Hill. City fans, how many of our choices do you agree/disagree with?
