29 April 2016
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Cork City have their third home league fixture in a row on tonight, as they welcome St. Patrick’s Athletic to Turner’s Cross.
City have won back-to-back home ties, against Finn Harps and Shamrock Rovers, which has seen them move up to third place in the table. The visitors are currently in fifth place, after suffering defeat to Bray Wanderers at the weekend.
The sides have met a total of eighty-eight times in the league, with the Saints holding the upper hand with thirty-three wins to City’s thirty; the remaining twenty-five games have ended in draws. The last meeting between the two saw City win 2-1 at Richmond Park, thanks to goals from Steven Beattie and Danny Morrissey.
Speaking at the club press conference ahead of the game, City boss John Caulfield said: “It’s a huge game again against another of the title contenders. Liam has brought a lot of new players in this year and changed his team around. We know how big the game is, but we have two wins under our belt and hopefully we can continue that momentum into the game on Friday.”
“We need to make sure we can perform as well as we have in the last two games and we need to be ready for Pat’s, but there is confidence in the squad at the moment.”
“They have a very strong squad. They still have a lot of the nucleus of the squad from when they won the league. He has a mixture of youth and experience and he is trying to gel the squad.”
“We are a different team to what we were last year; there are more goals in this team. There is still a bit of work to do, but the team is beginning to shape up and I would hope there is a lot more to come. I see it every day in training and I think there is enormous potential in this team.”
“The noise and the support over the last two games has been fantastic, and we are hoping to have a huge crowd on Friday night. It would be great if the crowd came out in force and got into the ground early.”
Kenny Browne returns from suspension, but Eoghan O’Connell is ruled out through injury as is John Kavanagh. Caulfield also has doubts over Karl Sheppard and Alan Bennett, both of whom are suffering with knocks.
Injury News: John Kavanagh, Eoghan O’Connell, Karl Sheppard, Alan Bennett
Suspensions: None
Last Game: Cork City 2-0 Shamrock Rovers
Last Meeting: St. Pat’s 1-2 Cork City
Last Meeting at Turner’s Cross: Cork City 3-1 St. Pat’s
League Form (most recent game first): W W D D D W W L W
