A tale of two Cities

IT’S that rarity, a cup final without a surfeit of pressure.

In today’s EA Sports Cup decider at Turner’s Cross, Cork City and Derry City will be going all out to claim the silverware, of course, but for neither side does their season hinge on the outcome. After today, both clubs will still have bigger fish to fry, with Derry chasing the Airtricity League Premier Division title and Cork pushing for promotion from the First Division.

When Cork hosted St Pat’s in the FAI Cup last week, Tommy Dunne held back top men Graham Cummins and Davin O’Neill until the second half, mindful that there was a crucial league game against Waterford coming up on the Tuesday.

Cork might have lost out to Pats but the move paid off when Cummins scored twice as City claimed another valuable three points against the Blues at the RSC.

But, with the EA Cup standing in isolation, Dunne can afford to field his strongest side this evening.

“With the Waterford game on Tuesday and this final coming up, something had to give against Pats,” said Dunne.

“We’re playing off a pool of about 15 to 17 players and you can’t bleed the players dry. But now we’ve got until next Friday before we play again. And there aren’t any replays to worry about. At one stage against Pats when Shane Duggan headed one we were hoping it went in. But afterwards we were saying, in a sense, it was just as well it didn’t because we’d be getting another match on top.

“But this one, the league cup final, we can get out and enjoy it. We know Derry play good football and we like to try to play as well so I think it could be a good spectacle.”

The game is also a tribute to the survival instinct in Irish football. Two seasons ago, both clubs were fallen giants, looking to climb back out of the second tier. Derry did that at the first attempt and are now flying high in the top flight. One season on, City are hoping to follow suit, though Tommy Dunne reckons there remains significant differences between the two.

“Derry were full-time even in the First Division and they stayed full-time,” he notes, “and in fairness to Stephen [Kenny] he brought back some really good players and added a number of other good ones as well. Budget-wise, I’d say they might be a bit above us as well so I don’t know if we’d have the capability to do exactly what Derry are doing. But, who knows? Obviously, the club wants to get back up and a bit of stability then mightn’t be too bad. But I’m saying this now, the natural tendency of Cork people — and of the team — is that they’ll want to compete.”

As well as an intense rivalry, there has long been a mutual appreciation society between the two clubs, as Candystripes boss Kenny confirms with his approving comments about the Rebels’ promotion drive.

“Of course we’d want Cork up in the Premier,” he said. “To have a Premier Division without a Munster representative is ridiculous. It’s into the lion’s den for us in Cork . But I love going to Turner’s Cross.

“There’s always a passionate crowd, great support, and we’ve had some great matches down there. I think if we could win the League Cup final, having won the First Division last season, it would give us a great boost going into the last six games.”

Kenny also reveals a nice personal subtext to this evening’s game. “I know Thomas a long time,” he said of City boss Dunne.

“I’ve known him since I was about 10 or 11 years of age. When I lived in Tallaght, he lived in Drimnagh, and my Dad worked for O’Gorman’s in Ranelagh, delivering sausages and rashers. Tommy’s Dad worked for Tayto so, on our school holidays, I’d be on the van delivering with my Dad and he’d be on the Tayto van and we’d be at the same shops. !

“Football-wise, we played against each other all the way from aged 11. I played for Bluebell and Belvedere and Thomas for Home Farm. And then I played for Thomas’s Dad Theo at Home Farm in the First Division. He comes from a great football family and I wish him well... but only after this weekend!”