Cork travel to Derry in attacking mood
Murray, who is 20, will likely be on the substitutes' bench as Cork try to resurrect a season in danger of sinking under the weight of the FAI Cup defeat by Derry and their dreadful return from away matches.
Derry damaged Cork's hopes of a major success this season by their win in Cork and they can look forward to strengthening their team further when veteran defender Peter Hutton and midfielder Gareth McGlynn return from injury.
But Hutton is unlikely to take part tomorrow.
Manager Kevin Mahon: "It is important now that we come down to earth and put the Cup on the back-burner.
"We have several weeks before we play the final and we must concentrate on improving our League position. the more matches we win between now and the final the better for us."
Derry can overtake Cork in the League if they win this Playing away, Cork have gained only one League point from Bohemians in five matches.
A glance at their returns suggests the problems revolve around their defensive shortcomings for Bray Wanderers and Drogheda United are the only teams to have conceded more goals. But Murphy insists they will continue to play attacking football.
"I accept we have to get our away form right but we have a young team and perhaps we play too much football for our own good," he said. "We have defenders who want to pull the ball down and play it out of defence and fellows like Gareth Cronin are brilliant at it."
Cronin missed the most recent matches from injury but is back in the frame as Cork set out to put their Cup disappointment behind them.
"We are going up to Derry looking for a win," said Murphy, "we believe we were the better team in the Cup match and apart from the first 20 minutes they were fully extended. I'm not begrudging them their win but we have a young team and high expectations and perhaps they have to go through the process of learning to live with disappointment before they come through.
"I had a lot of disappointments when I was playing before I won a trophy we lost two Cup finals before we won the League in a play-off at the RDS and then I won a Cup as assistant to manager Dave Barry."
Cork were upset by the enforced withdrawal of Billy Woods to injury early in the second half. He had the legs of Derry's 17-year-old full-back Kevin Deery and provided Cork with the penetration they needed to break down Derry's disciplined defence.
Deery is a Northern Ireland international at U18 level and clearly a player for the future and Derry have plenty of experience in the persons of centre-backs Paddy McLoughlin and Eddie McCallion.
Sean Hargan at left-back is as good as you will find in the League and in left-winger Sean Friars they have a striker who clearly deveoloped well during his couple of years in England with Liverpool and Ipswich.
The results in the first division in mid-week ensured that Cobh Ramblers will bounce right back into contention for promotion if they can overcome Kilkenny City at St Colman's Park tonight.
Waterford's surprise drawn match with Kildare County and the defeat of Finn Harps by Dundalk helped open up the competition yet again and
Cobh are in the right frame of mind to capitalise.
Manager Dave Hill is hoping to shake off the effects of flu before the game and will have Willie Bruton back after a bout of illness to strengthen his attack.
But Kieran Reilly is suffering from a broken bone in his foot and new boy John Coker will miss the game because of suspension.
Two more of Cobh's promising clutch of new youngsters will not be available because they will be on duty in Galway with an Irish schools international team against their Northern Ireland counterparts James Cummins and Eoin Conlon.
The weekend fixtures:
Tonight: Eircom League, first division; Monaghan United v Galway, Century Homes Park 7.30; Sligo Rovers v Athlone Town, Showgrounds 7.30; Cobh Ramblers v Kilkenny City, St. Colman's Park 7.45.
Tomorrow: Eircom League premier division; Derry City v Cork City, Brandywell 12 noon.




