Cautious John Caulfield expecting gruelling Europa League test in Belfast
City beat Dundalk at Turner’s Cross on June 3 to move to within a point of the lead in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division, but their next game wasn’t until last Friday, a scoreless draw with Shamrock Rovers.
While Linfield’s last game was the loss to Glenavon in the Tennent’s Irish Cup in early May, they are back in pre-season and Caulfield thinks that the tie is a 50-50 call.
“We’re just after a three-week break,” he says, “which defies the logic of why we ever went to summer football and nobody can give us an answer as to why it was extended, it used to be two weeks before.
“Linfield had the cup final on May 7 so they’ve had their break and they’re back in training. We’ve had a couple of weeks off and we’re back in, we played a competitive match last Friday.
“It’s hard to know, coming into the break we were in good form but last Friday we maybe didn’t play as well as we could have.
“It’ll be interesting but I think that some of those things go out the door, everyone will want to play in this game, they’ll dig it out to give a performance.
“History probably says Linfield are favourites, the way the leagues are might make us favourites, I still think it’ll be a very close game.”
City are without captain John Dunleavy and John Kavanagh, while an injury to the next in line at right-back, Michael McSweeney, meant youngster Conor McCarthy played against Rovers.
McSweeney and Karl Sheppard will both have fitness tests ahead of tonight’s tie but there are worries over first-choice centre-back pairing Alan Bennett and Kenny Browne. Bennett sustained a knock in Friday’s game while Browne has been unwell.
The relative proximity of Cork to Belfast compared to other potential ties is something both clubs will have welcomed, according to Caulfield.
“I think the big plus of the draw for both is that there were no airports involved or passport control or any of that stuff,” he says.
“Our nearest club is Dublin, so we’re used to overnight travelling. From our point of view, it’s probably easier to get to Belfast than it is to get to Derry, Finn Harps or Sligo. We were quite happy because the traffic was quite quick, you avoid a load of hassle and all of the wasted time, losing energy at airports.
“I think, overall, both clubs are probably happy that they drew each other.”
As regards whether one league is better than the other, he doesn’t think there are marked differences.
“No, there has never been and I don’t think there ever will be,” he says.
“I think both leagues are very comparable. If you look back at the history, the Tyler Cup, the Setanta Cup, games between north and south teams have been really tight, particularly if you look at the Setanta Cup semi-finals and finals.
“One league always prefers to say they’re stronger, but if you look at it, even the representative games between the leagues, there has only ever been a kick of a ball between them.
“On the other side, a lot of players from the south would have played in the Irish League, they still do but I remember when some of the best players were going because it was financially more attractive. That has probably balanced out in the last few years.”
One of the few players to cross the border in recent times is left-back Ross Gaynor, who was with City until the end of last season before joining Linfield when his contract expired, meaning he played in two losing cup finals in the space of six months.
“He was great for me,” Caulfield says, “he joined us halfway through the season before last and stayed for a season and a half, he did really well for us.
“He’s a really good guy, a really good player, he had the option of staying for this season but decided not to, it seems that he had a better deal up here, which is a player’s prerogative, so that was it.
“We know a lot about Ross and I’m sure he knows a lot about us.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
