Cork fans show red card to Coughlan

FORAS, the Cork City supporters trust and other City diehards staged a pre-match protest at Turner’s Cross last night.

Upwards of 200 City fans, made up mainly of teenagers, refused to enter the ground for the first 10 minutes of last night’s 0-0 draw with Sligo Rovers and, once inside, they staged a Red Card demonstration at half-time.

Banners proclaiming “Coughlan Out” were unfurled at the Shed-end to chants of “We Want Coughlan Out” which were aimed at club owner Tom Coughlan.

The peaceful protest against the current management structure lasted no more than the allocated 10 minutes as fans began to filter into the Curragh Road stand with the game already in progress.

City boss Paul Doolin was none too pleased at the protest when he spoke to the media afterwards.

“I have said all along, the problem is when you look at the incident with the bus at the weekend, you look at the protest tonight before the game and all it is doing is causing hassle for the team.

“We have only seven games to go and there’s still problems here between everybody,” said Doolin.

“People decide to stay outside, there’s no atmosphere inside the ground, they come in and get going a bit in the second half, but it was all a bit of a shambles again.

“Look, to be up there challenging for the league and the cups, you need a stable club and this club is anything but stable.”

Cork are back in league action again next Tuesday when they host their big European rivals Derry City at Turners’ Cross (kick off: 7.45pm).

Article courtesy of The Evening Echo newspaper.