GARRY BUCKLEY IS adamant that it’s only a matter of time until Cork City rediscover the form that has made them Premier Division title contenders for the past five years.
By taking just four points from a possible 12 so far, City have made their worst start to a campaign since John Caulfield took over ahead of the 2014 season.
The Leesiders have yet to finish outside the top two during Caulfield’s tenure. However, the duopoly they have formed with reigning champions Dundalk is under threat in 2019, with the likes of Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians and St Patrick’s Athletic setting the early pace.
After suffering a President’s Cup defeat to Dundalk, City began their league challenge with consecutive losses to St Pat’s and Waterford. They got back on track with a win at Sligo Rovers, before enduring a frustrating stalemate at home to Derry City last Friday.
Of particular concern for John Caulfield is the difficulty his players have encountered in hitting the net. The 2-1 victory in Sligo has so far been an outlier, with last season’s runners-up failing to score in three of their four league outings.
“I suppose it’s been hit and miss,” is Buckley’s description of Cork City’s season to date. “I think we can take a lot of positives from the games. We just need a killer instinct in front of goal. We’ll be up and running then.”
The City squad changed significantly over the winter. Eleven newcomers have filled the vacancies left by the departures of players such as Steven Beattie, Jimmy Keohane and Kieran Sadlier, who were all members of the club’s double-winning squad of 2017.
“We lost about seven or eight players — good players as well — so it was going to take us a bit of time to gel,” says Buckley. “Some players have only arrived in the last couple of weeks so it might take us time to get used to their play and for them to get used to us.
“But we’re in no doubt about our quality. We still have league and cup winners in our team so I have no doubt we’ll be up there again towards the end of the season.”
The midfielder adds: “We believe in our ability. We’ve been there, we’ve done that, we know what it takes. We just need to bide our time. It’s not for a lack of effort. We’re putting in unbelievable work on and off the pitch. The goals will come.”
Tomorrow night, City make the long journey to the north-west to take on newly-promoted Finn Harps. When the teams last met in a Premier Division fixture — in Ballybofey in August 2017 — Buckley scored the only goal of the game to bring the visitors a step closer to winning their first top-flight title in 12 years.
Harps rebounded from a defeat to Bohemians on the opening day of this season by picking up encouraging draws against St Pat’s and Dundalk. Ollie Horgan’s side have since been beaten by Sligo Rovers and Shamrock Rovers
Buckley says: “It’s never a nice place to go. It’s always settled by the odd goal. The pitch at this time of year might not be the best so it’s definitely going to be a scrap.
“You always have to earn your three points or your point when you go up there, so this is going to be no different. But we always put in the work when we go up there because we know what it takes to win there.
“Once we do that and take our chances, I have no doubt that we can get the three points.”
Andy Dunne joins Murray Kinsella and Ryan Bailey to discuss Joe Schmidt’s undroppables and how France might attack Ireland’s predictability in The42 Rugby Weekly.
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