Cork eyeing silver lining in cup, says Dan Murray

As they watch Dundalk disappearing over the horizon in the league, Cork City and St Patrick’s Athletic have had just a couple of days in which to lick their wounds after their respective unhappy Mondays in Tallaght Stadium and Oriel Park.

Now they meet tonight at Turner’s Cross in a Third Round FAI Cup game which has taken on added and perhaps even season-determining significance for both clubs (kick off 7.25pm, live on RTÉ 2).

“You can talk about finishing second but it’s not really remembered who finished second over the course of the years,” City veteran Dan Murray observes.

“It all comes down to how many trophies you have. When John (Caulfield) came in, the goal was to win trophies again.

“We believe Cork teams should win trophies on a regular basis and we put a marker down last season that we were wanting to stick around and challenge for all the trophies.

“We said a few weeks that a 10-point gap wasn’t too bad but it’s looking like it’s probably a bit too far now.

“Dundalk would have to lose four games out of the last nine and they don’t look like they will lose any.

“It will be hard. We’ll just take every game as it comes and see where that leaves us.

“Last season we were a few good points behind going into the last seven or eight games so we won’t say never but we’ve definitely made it very difficult for ourselves.

“So tonight probably does take on a bit of an added importance that it might not have done if we’d won the last two games in the league.”

In losing 3-0 away to Shamrock Rovers, City looked every inch a side whose confidence and momentum had been badly rocked by that shock 3-2 defeat at home to Limerick three nights before.

“It was very disappointing and unexpected, really,” says Murray. “We expected a better response, especially result-wise. But it wasn’t to be.

“It’s the cup now. it will probably be good to play in a different tournament, a different type of pressure and against a good team.

“Hopefully we’ll get a good crowd at Turner’s Cross. It’s a one-off game so hopefully that will get the minds changed around.”

Of course, the same applies to Pat’s —or as Murray puts it, “the bouncebackability cliché comes out for both teams”— after their nine-game winning streak was brought to a juddering halt at Oriel Park where champions Dundalk took a massive step towards defending their title with an emphatic 4-1 win.

Saints defender Jason McGuinness says: “The league table doesn’t lie: Cork are one of the best teams in the country. But we’ve played them down there before and know we can get a result there.

“We were disappointed with Monday’s result against Dundalk so we can hopefully put that right with getting a result against Cork.”

For the cup holders, Christy Fagan remains out with a knee injury, Kenny Browne and Ian Morris face late fitness tests and Killian Brennan returns from suspension.

City boss John Caulfield has much the greater injury concerns with skipper John Dunleavy, Gavan Holohan abnd Danny Morrissey all sidelined while there are doubts over Mark O’Sullivan, John Kavanagh, Darren Dennehy, Alan Bennett and Kevin O’Connor.

But Caulfield is hoping the change of competition will help lift his team after their back to back disappointments in the league.

“There’s a beauty about the cup in the sense that, if you win five games, you win the cup,” he says.

“It’s a different atmosphere and a different feeling to the league. All of the players are looking forward to it because they know it is an opportunity for them to bounce back.”

Tonight’s other FAI Cup Third Round ties are: Sherriff YC v Athlone Town, Clontarf Astro (7.30pm); Bohemians v Bray Wanderers, Dalymount Park; Derry City v Drogheda United, Brandywell Stadium; Galway United v Dundalk, Eamonn Deacy Park; and Tolka Rovers v Killester United, Frank Cooke Park.

Matches kick off at 7.45pm unless indicated otherwise.