Brian Gartland embraces ‘New Firm’ of Dundalk and Cork's rivalry

Liam Mackey looks ahead to the President’s Cup final and the ’New Firm’ rivalry between Dundalk and Cork City.

It’s fair to say that Mark McNulty’s homecoming victory speech after the FAI Cup final in November went down pretty well in Cork, the fired-up keeper telling the faithful in the SoHo Bar: “There wasn’t one fucking pundit in this country that gave us a chance. Everyone’s saying ‘Dundalk this, Dundalk that, they’re doing well in Europe’. We went three fucking rounds in Europe! There’s no-one saying anything about fucking Cork!”

The uproarious acclamation with which McNulty’s words were received, not only by the supporters present but by his team-mates gathered around him, suggested that if there was one thing that meant almost as much to Cork City as winning the cup, it was doing so at the expense of their biggest rivals, the team which has consigned them to second place in the league for three seasons on the trot.