'Will he get a game on Friday?' Cork City boss Clancy left furious after red card
BLUE MONDAY: Cork City manager Tim Clancy after the defeat to Waterford at the Regional Sports Centre in Waterford. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Tim Clancy was livid with the referee after Monday’s late 2-1 defeat at Waterford - the sent-off manager claiming Damien McGraith made a disrespectful remark about his Cork City team.
Kyle White’s 86th-minute winner completed a turnaround for the Blues before 3,017 fans at the RSC, largely influenced by the dismissal of City defender Freddie Anderson for a second yellow card on the hour.
Once Clancy approached the referee after the full-time whistle, he was also issued with two quickfire bookings and is facing a touchline suspension.
His newly-promoted side host Sligo Rovers at Turner’s Cross on Friday, having extracted four points from nine in their opening three matches.
Early table-toppers Waterford welcome their former boss Alan Reynolds, under pressure following three straight defeats for Bohemians.
“I thought Damien had a poor game and afterwards I told him I thought he was shocking,” explained Clancy. There was no language or aggression from myself but he replied by saying he felt our team was shocking.
“For a match official to say that back to a manager is really poor. Especially after the shift my team had put in. We were down to 10 men, blocking shots, diving headers and were honest. To hear from a match official about a group of players that is very disrespectful.
“I said ‘there’s your ego taking over’. So, he booked me twice to send me off and then stormed off the pitch.
“I should have bitten my tongue by not going to him but it is what it is.
“He didn’t give us a lot of decisions, tugs on our players weren’t fouls whereas he awarded them for identical Waterford situations.” Although Clancy expects the FAI to throw the book at him, he’s unsure whether the officials are subjected to similar scrutiny.
“I’ll get punished for this but will Damien? I don’t know. That’s one to ask the FAI. They’ll be looking at my interviews and I’m sure they will be calling me in for interviews.
“I’d love to see the match officials called in. Or will he get a game on Friday?”
It appears Clancy’s plea has been ignored by the FAI powerbrokers, for the Mayo official is listed to referee the clash of Shelbourne against Drogheda United at Tolka Park.
Clancy is content with his team’s start – and there’s the wash-out fixture at Shamrock Rovers to rearrange – but not with how the games were refereed.
“I think in the three matches so far a lot of decisions have gone against us,” he surmised.
“Ruairi Keating was kicked up and down the pitch at Waterford, players climbing all over him and going through the back of him. Maybe if I tell players to drive around and playact they might start getting decisions. It’s not good enough.
“It was harsh to send Freddie off when he’s virtually only committed two fouls of the whole game.
“That changed the whole game and we nearly held on for what would have been a brilliant point against a Waterford side who were excellent in the second half.”
There were concerns when Seáni Maguire was forced off with injury midway through the first half and scans will determine how that will affect his availability.
“Seáni’s tweaked something and we’ll see how he is,” said Clancy.
“He’s a massive player for us and hopefully it’s not too bad but you’re losing with that experience of holding the ball up and linking the play so well.
“That’s frustrating but I thought Harvey Skieters did really well for the 70 minutes he was on the pitch, immediately setting up a chance for Alex Nolan to put us 2-0 up.
“Maybe that would have made it a different game.
“There was a lot of energy used in that match but we’ll go again on Friday. The fans were brilliant again; you can see by their reception at the end how much they appreciated the effort and honesty, which is the bare minimum.”
In other news, season ticket holders with SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Celtic FC and Cork City FC will be able to purchase tickets for the Rebel Army's 'Cork Super Cup' decider with the Hoops on July 8 from Wednesday, March 5 with tickets going on general sale via Ticketmaster and www.corksupercup.com on Friday, March 7.
On Tuesday, Celtic confirmed the ticket prices for the summer fixture which are as follows;
€45
€25
- €115
€35
€20
€40
€25
€115
€28
€18
€28
€18
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