Dunne: City are right on schedule

Even though he concedes Cliftonville’s strategically weakened side “weren’t the team that’s dominating the North,” Tommy Dunne declared himself very pleased with Cork City’s 4-0 trouncing of the Irish League leaders in their Setanta Cup first-leg game at Turner’s Cross on Monday night.

With nearly a month still to go to the kick-off of the Airtricity League, the City boss reckons his players are already in much better shape than this time last year.

“I think we’re at a different place altogether,” he says. “I’m not saying we were outrageously bad last year but we’ve tweaked a few things this year, gotten a bit stronger with the training and also everybody in the off-season has been doing their own work. Before we even kicked a ball or played a game in a match situation, we had 30 sessions under our belts. For us to be moving this well, at this time of the year, is probably testament to that.

“Of course, I’ll judge everything by how we are at the end of the season — but, right now, the boys are in good nick, there’s a bit of hunger about them, which is important.”

Dunne is pleased with both the blend of old and new in his side and what he regards as increasingly healthy competition for places. “The younger crew are coming into a good age but the older lot are in good nick too,” he observes. “Dan Murray, for example, looked fantastic against Cliftonville. Kevin Murray was very good too — plus we have Darren Dennehy and Kalen Spillane there. So I’ve no doubt they’ll have a bit to say about who plays. I think we have a group of about 17 or 18 bodies competing for places. And it has to be like that. Because if it’s not, mediocrity and complacency can come into play and then you’re in trouble.”

Looking ahead to the league season, which kicks off for City with a visit to Thomond Park to play Limerick on March 8, Dunne says he’s expecting the Premier Division to be hugely competitive and tougher than last year.

“There are a lot of teams close to each other and I think that’s going to help make it a great league,” he says.

“We will be one of the teams who will want to be better than we were last year. We need to be more competitive in the cup competitions and in the league. We need to give ourselves more opportunities to bring silverware back to Cork. We were all happy to see the club survive. Now we all want it to thrive.”