CORK CITY WILL give late fitness tests to Garry Buckley and Damien Delaney prior to tomorrow’s Europa League first leg against Rosenborg at Turner’s Cross (7.45pm).
Buckley, who took his tally of league goals for the season to nine in Friday’s win over Waterford, has been playing through a groin injury in recent weeks.
The in-form midfielder will be assessed by City’s medical staff ahead of the visit of the Norwegian champions, as will veteran defender Delaney.
The 37-year-old, who returned to his hometown club last month after leaving Crystal Palace, picked up a knock to his knee on the training ground in Bishopstown earlier today.
“I know he [Garry Buckley] played last week in Waterford but his groin has been at him,” City’s assistant manager John Cotter explained this afternoon. “He’s been managing it for the last couple of weeks.
“We trained early this morning and [Damien Delaney] got a knock on his knee, so it’s just a matter of patience. It’s hard to gauge now, we’ll have to see how it settles down overnight. We’re optimistic that he’ll be right.
“It’s just a matter of waiting until tomorrow. They’ll go into the physios in the morning and we’ll see how they are. Hopefully they’ll be fine.”
On the back of their 3-1 win away to Ranheim in Norway’s top flight on Saturday, Rosenborg arrived in Cork this afternoon and will train at Turner’s Cross tonight.
They completed the signing of Issam Jebali from Swedish club Elfsborg today but the Tunisian striker hasn’t been registered in time to face Cork City.
The winners of this tie — the second leg of which takes place in Trondheim a week tomorrow — will advance to the Europa League’s play-off round, where their opponents will be the losers of the Champions League meeting of RB Salzburg (Austria) and KF Shkëndija (Macedonia).
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