Summer Sun

So the Junior Cert is finally over!! And with its end comes a summer of away trips, holidays and that horrible two week break. But the elation of finishing the exams has been sharply contrasted by the worry and disappointment that has surrounded the club these past few weeks. Following the loss to Bohs the team butchered their chances of getting back to winning ways, and in my opinion their chances of winning the league by succumbing 2-1 on the banks of the Boyne to a resilient Drogheda and Alan Matthews.

That was followed by a truly awful performance in front of a fleeting City crowd where a feeble offensive effort contributed little to our 0-0 draw with Shamrock Rovers. Negative performances coupled with poor results had the ‘famous’ Cork sporting public heading for the exits, possibly never to be seen again this season? Money (once again the figure is a mystery) was coughed up to the taxman on Wednesday the 10^th in preparation for the court case that following Monday. That Friday a rest byte from the league woes could have been achieved in the form of progress in the FAI Cup, but alas in front of a tiny crowd two leads were thrown away against Sligo Rovers, as a result of poor defending and poor goalkeeping. That being said the football was of a high quality and a positive note for City was the well taken goal by Shane Duggan, defiantly one for the future.

We were given another 4 weeks by the high court and Tommy No Bobs can once again breathe a sigh of relief. The ‘saviour’ of City has amassed a bill rumoured to be around €400k from PAYE/PRSI and tax on the winnings of the Setanta Cup and in my opinion under the guidance of this messer our beloved club will just lurch painfully from crisis to crisis. The bad feeling around the club was compounded further as our poor form continued, dumped out of the cup by a Rafael Cretaro goal at the Showgrounds.

The last game until the midsummer break is this Friday when we play our 5^th home game in 5 weeks, welcoming relegation battlers Dundalk to the Cross. The venue will play host to another special game the following day. City stalwart, legend and full back Neal Horgan will pit Cork City against a Cork exile/legends team on Saturday the 21^st June at 4.30 for his testimonial. The exile/legends team will include the likes of Dave Barry, Kevin Doyle, George O’Callaghan and will be co-managed by Damien Richardson and Pat Dolan, entertainment in itself!!

In the next update there will be a summery of the season so far as well as reports from the Dundalk and testimonial games so until then auf wiedersehn

First is the Worst, Second is the best...

One of the worst performances of the season came last Friday when we played host to Bohs.

With about 5 and a half thousand packed into the Cross and the prospect of going 6 points top one felt the team would be fired up for the match. A great display was organised before the match by the members of 'Commando's 84' . The game started and almost immediatly we hit problems, Joe Gamble off after three minutes, the knock he picked up last week at Bray rearing it's ugly head once more. Former Bohs midfielder Stephen O'Donnell came on in his place. We started brightly all the same and almost scored when Ken Oman's hack off a Dennehy cross blazed just over the bar. Dan Murray then headed wide from the resulting corner. But that was just about as good as it got for the Rebel Army as it went downhill from there. The first half petered out as Bohs siezed the posession.

After the second half it was put to good use. First, Jason Byrne went on a good run down the right hgand flank, skinned Danny Murphy and contnued into the box. But Dan Connor was on hand at the near post to make a smart save from a narrow angle. This gave the Gypo's yet more momentum and only a fine Connor save prevented Byrne scoring from close range.

The ex-Drogheda netminder's kicking was apalling, and his poor kickouts were building pressure on the City back 4, and the Irish International Byrne was not to be undone, a moment of utter confusion among the City ranks following a disgraceful dive by Anto Murphy led to Billy Dennehy virtually hoofing the ball out of Connor's hands. Unfortunatly for the Kerryman and the rest of the City team it was a topper and landed straight at the feet of Glen Cronin, he put a good ball into the box and with the striker completly unmarked and out of position Byrne bagged his 12th of the season, now leading Shamrock Rovers Gery Twigg by one.

From there on in the Bohemians took their foot of the gas, and a pitiful attempt was made to try to grab an equaliser, set pieces were thrown away and only a half chance by second half substitute Tim Kiely was the only shot of note. Tonight the Rebel Army play bottom of the table Drogheda United at United Park. Three points will be needed if the Corkonians are to re-start their title challenge