Cork City working on a dream

In an edited extract from his new book about the club, the Cork City stalwart Neal Horgan recalls the thrills and spills of European football which helped shape the celebrated title-winning team of 2005.

TURNER’S CROSS in 2004, and a leaping Kevin Doyle at the back post is so far off the ground, I could only stare in amazement. City were playing Dutch side NEC Nijmegen in the second round of the Intertoto Cup and, having made my way into the first-team squad a few years previously — and then broken my leg in a recent league match — I was sitting in the stand with crutches by my side. The team had knocked out respected Swedish club Malmo FC in the first round, and then held Nijmegen to a 0–0 draw in the first leg of the second, and the place was buzzing with talk of this new City side.

Brian Lennox had personally taken the reins of the club and was keen to progress it further. He’d hired the colourful and passionate Pat Dolan as manager — which was quite some meeting of minds. Both wanted full-time football for the club; both were sceptical of the influence of English football in Ireland; both were ambitious and hungry. For a while, Dolan’s infectious enthusiasm and big plans were sufficiently backed by Lennox.