Eircom League Showdown: Cork Vs Derry

16th Nov 2005

Cork City Vs Derry
Alan Ger

There was a time when, as they say "to be fair", the League of Ireland was low key entertainment on a winter Sunday afternoon. Dedicated souls stood with steely determination around Turner's Cross as miserably cold wintery weather bore down its unrelenting influence on the matches and consequently the atmosphere at the ground.

Players, barely remunerated for their troubles, opted for 'hoofing' more often than not - their icy limbs telling them that one mighty crack at an incoming cross was all they would get before their hamstrings would shut down for the day.

The result was often a 90 minute long slogs exhibition and a mundane nil all draw. This quality never gave City fans much ammo against Premiership snobs nor did it give them much fodder to coax friends to the game. Instead many fans relied on the craic and camaraderie between themselves on the terraces, afterwards in the pub and at away games to keep them coming back.

Others kept themselves going with that feeling of righteousness instilled in every League of Ireland fan - the feeling that they are doing their bit for their local club. The feeling that they were keeping it real unlike those Premiership-only fans gatting in warm bars watching "their" team on Sky Sports. The Cork City fan always felt he had something that reached far deeper into the soul than the bling-bling of the Premiership.

THE ROYAL 'WE'
One thing that really gets up any loyal Cork City fan's nose (or anyone with any sense of pride whatsoever in their homeland) is when other Corkonians use the term "we" to refer to teams like Everton, Chelsea and Manchester United. Aggghhhh! As they'd happily sing themselves to some lower division side taking on "their" team in the FA cup on Sky Sports: WHO ARE YA!? WHO ARE YA!?

EUROPE
The fact of the matter is that the "standard" argument no longer exists and proof is in the pudding. In times past the notion of being in the UEFA cup at the end of September for a League of Ireland team was complete fantasy. This year Cork City made the "first round proper" of the historical football competition and were only knocked out on September 29th by Slavia Prague after a gutsy 2-1 defeat at home.

Slavia Prague are still in the competition having reached the group stages. They are currently in second place in Group A just behind Bundesliga giants Hamburg. So what does that say about the Rebel Army's improvements?

Long gone are the days of voices echoing eerily around the Cross when attendances of 1,000 wouldn't raise an eyebrow. Incredibly, the club has pre-sold the 7,500 tickets allocated for City fans for Friday night's match since last week. Average attendances at well known Scottish "Premiership" clubs Livingston (6,300), Motherwell (6,860) and Dundee (7,910) put this in perspective.

DOYLE
Kevin Doyle's unprecedented success with Reading since his departure from Cork City has helped the club climb into second position in the Coca Cola Championship above big name teams like Leeds and Southampton. The adopted Corkman learned his trade the hard way at Turner's Cross and City fans' loud demands for his inclusion in Brian Kerr's lacklustre international side are given full credibility now that he is on the verge of entering the Premiership.

SUMMER SOCCER
The advent of Summer Soccer has contributed spectacularly to attendances at Turner's Cross. Wet or frosty Sunday afternoons spent shivering on a plastic seat or in the Shed have been swapped for balmy summer Friday evenings and hugely improved performances - even the number of old dolls attending has soared with the opportunity to top up on a tan...

THE CURSE OF THE DEISE
Having beat Waterford's hurlers twice in the 2005 Championship it's a pity we couldn't inflict the same damage to our neighbours' pride in the Eircom league. Out of three league clashes this year all matches resulted in draws.

With Waterford perched just above Shamrock Rovers, third from bottom and with just seven wins in the league this entire season we must look back with great bitterness and blame those Deise langers for getting in our way if things don't work out Friday night.

There has been something wrong on Shams training ground all season but fans couldnt quite put their finger on it...

DOWN IN THE DUBS
However we won't rush to pour scorn on our neighbours too quickly - we need to keep our heads and focus some attention on the Dubs. Where are they this year? Shelbourne have been well behind all season and never looked like pipping Cork and Derry but the performances of Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians, UCD and St. Pats are nothing less than shambolic. Can you believe that only one Dublin team from a total five are within 25 points of Cork after 32 games!

Add this embarrassment to the useless hurling team, the uninteresting and ultimately mediocre Gaelic football team and one can see why Europe awarded Cork the Capital of Culture status. What do the Dubs have to offer? Answer that one yourselves cos we haven't a clue like!

Whatever happens on Friday at least you can go to bed knowing the league title isn't going to Dirty Aul Town this year.

DERRY
Cork City and Derry fans have a cosy relationship. We acknowledge each others grievances with cities to the East. When Cork fans travel North they are always welcomed with great hospitality and nobody could really begrudge them too much if title went north - especially coming from one of the weakest sporting counties on the island.

The Eircom league is every Derryman's flame of hope. Their success starvation will strike a chord with even the hardest Shed Head but Cork haven't won the title since 1993 - a long time for loyal City supporters who have stood in the Shed, shouted in support of the team until their voices gave up and braved horrendous journeys, artic temperatures and poor results at away games in places like the Brandywell over the last 12 years.

The time is right for the title to come back to Leeside. With the Rebel Treble all ready in the bag since September one can only assume that being the year that it is more glory is imminent for Dan Murray and his team tomorrow night. C'mon the Rebel Army!