John Caulfield: City have added class this season
At the other end of the table, meanwhile, crisis-hit Bray Wanderers must go to Sligo in search of their first points under caretaker management following the shock departure of Alan Mathews and his backroom staff.
Four behind Dundalk and level on points with Shamrock Rovers – but officially second by virtue of their superior goal difference – Cork City are at home to Derry City who are themselves a further four points off the pace.
Although Cork struggled to see off struggling Bray by the narrowest of margins last Saturday, manager John Cauflield is happy with his side’s unbeaten start to the season.
“The difference between this year and last year is that we are creating a lot of chances,” he says.
“Last year we had a gutsy team, but I think this year we are gutsy with a bit more class about us.”
Caulfield is expecting City’s biggest crowd so far this season at Turner’s Cross for the visit of old rivals Derry.
“Our support is phenomenal, the atmosphere in The Cross is unique,” he says. “The crowd are coming in early, they are there for the warm-up and you sense the noise and the atmosphere around the ground. I think it does make the difference and the team has responded to it.”
For tonight’s game, Caulfield has doubts over Michael McSweeney, Colin Healy and Danny Morrissey – all of whom missed out on the 0-1 win in Bray last weekend – and will wait until closer to kick off before making a final decision on their fitness.
Derry will be without Josh Daniels (ankle), Shaun Kelly (knee), Dean Jarvis (toe) and Stephen Dooley (back), but manager Peter Hutton is relishing what awaits his team at the end of their long journey from Foyleside.
“Cork City away in Turners Cross is always one of the fixtures that, as a player and now as a manager, you look forward to,” he enthuses. “The pitch is always in good condition and the atmosphere in the ground is always great and that is what you, as a player, looked forward to.
“But don’t get me wrong, Turner’s Cross has always been a difficult venue to go to and get anything, at the best of times.”
While former Cork boss Tommy Dunne is back in his native Dublin this evening as Galway United travel to Tallaght to take on Shamrock Rovers (8pm), much of tonight’s focus in the league will be on the Showgrounds where embattled Bray Wanderers – with caretaker manager Maciej Tarnogrodski in charge following the resignation of Alan Mathews and his coaching staff – will have to try to put all the turmoil at the club to one side for a meeting with Sligo Rovers who, under new manager Owen Heary, will themselves be hoping to belatedly get their season going against the side which is propping up the table with zero points (kick off 5.45pm).
Tarnogrodski, who has headed up Bray’s youth development programme and coached the club’s U19s, says the players are “fully behind the job at hand” while the new owners of the club, in a statement released yesterday, said they are “fully committed, as a priority, to sustaining the club’s Premier League status and keeping the club alive financially.”
Speaking later on local radio, chairman Denis O’Connor said that, because of legal constraints, he couldn’t talk about the departed management team’s allegations concerning unpaid wages. “But I can assure you all the players are paid,” he added.
Former Monaghan, Drogheda and Athlone boss Mick Cooke is widely expected to be named as Mathews’ permanent replacement as manager at the Carlisle Grounds.
In tonight’s remaining Premier Division game, Drogheda United are at home to Bohemians while, in the First Division, it’s Athlone Town v Wexford Youths, Athlone Town Stadium; UCD v Finn Harps, The UCD Bowl and Waterford United v Shelbourne, RSC.
Matches kick off at 7.45pm unless otherwise indicated.
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