IN THE DARK days of not so long ago, Cork City fans could be forgiven for wondering if they would ever see their beloved club in the Premier Division again.
Plunged into examinership by mismanagement and facing a winding-up order over outstanding tax bills, it was only through the hard work of committed City fans that the club survived at all.
Fast forward a couple of years and those same fans are getting ready to make the long trek to Dublin for their opening game of the new Premier Division season against UCD.
The Belfield Bowl might not be the most glamorous venue in the League of Ireland, but for the “Rebel Army”, it will be heaven tomorrow night.
“Everybody involved with the club and with the Cork public are really, really looking forward to us being back in the Premier Division,” City boss Tommy Dunne told TheScore.ie when we caught up last week.
“To be truthful, it’s a bit of an unknown in a sense. We’ve got a lot of players there that haven’t played in the Premier. We’ve got some top stars from the Premier as well. So if we can gel them and get them playing as best they can together, well then we’re hoping that we’d be competitive and that everybody in Cork can enjoy some exciting football in Cork City.”
Dunne deserves this night as much as anyone else. It was the Dubliner who stepped into the breach ahead of the 2010 season, taking over from Paul Doolin as manager of Cork City FORAS Co-op. Two years later, he can look back with pride on a club which is now thriving, both on and off the field.
“I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve worked really hard, the club has worked really hard.
We’ve really started from scratch and it’s something that we’re all heavily passionate about and heavily involved in because it’s our life. League of Ireland football has always been our life so we want to do well at it and we want to make it a better league, not just for ourselves but for everybody.
New faces, familiar places
There are few who would deny that having Cork City back among the big boys is a good thing for the league. After a ding-dong battle with Shelbourne at the top of the First Division last season, Dunne took his men to Tolka Park on the final day for a title decider. With the game poised at 1-1 deep into injury time, Shelbourne were set to be crowned champions. And then Graham Cummins struck, his 24th goal of the season. Just like that, the First Division title was going back on the bus to Leeside.
Cummins has since moved on to Preston North End in the off-season, and Dunne has been left with the unenviable task of finding someone to replace his haul.
He’s a big loss to us. In saying that, you’ve got to move on. He’s pushed on to Preston North End and I hope for Graham that he does really well. Tadhg has come in. This is the way football is, we’re not the only club that’s lost players.Yes he was a big player for us last year, scored 24 goals, so we better look at that and see if we can get someone else to step into his shoes and maybe get some more goals from other areas of the park.
“Tadhg” is Tadhg Purcell. The former Shamrock Rovers striker moved back to the league following spells in England with Darlington and Northampton Town, and Dunne is banking on him recapturing some of the form which caught the eye of the scouts cross-channel in the first place.
“I think for him it’s not the end of a chapter, but the beginning of a new chapter. He’s coming back to Ireland, he’s coming into a competitive strong league. If he performs well, I think he can enjoy his football again.
“He hasn’t played for a while which is going to be difficult for him. If he can settle down and play, I think it’s good for him.”
Muzz
Another man who is delighted to be back with City is captain Dan Murray. Two years ago, the 29-year-old centre half reluctantly stepped away from a club in turmoil and moved up to Dublin where he joined Shamrock Rovers. His timing could hardly have been better, and now he’s back “home” again with a couple of league medals in his back pocket.
“Although he’s English by birth, I think he’s a Corkman by now,” Dunne half-jokes.
Murray himself is certainly looking forward to a brand new start back at Turner’s Cross.
“There’s a great team spirit and everyone just wants to play for Cork City, which is a great thing,” Murray is quick to note. “We’re all enjoying the training and looking forward to the start of the season.
“You can never really tell in pre-season how you are doing. When it comes down to it, we play UCD on Friday and we’ll know where we’re at then.
We honestly believe that we are as competitive as any other team in the division. On our day, I think we can beat anyone.It’s just whether we can get the consistency to win a league or be at the top end of the league, we don’t really know, as there are a lot of players in our squad who have no experience in the Premier Division.
We’ll grow as a team and it might take us a third of the season before we can see where we’re at. If we’re up and around the top, that’s where we’ll believe we should stay for the rest of it.
– Additional reporting by Ben Blake.
