20 April 2018
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Cork City travel to Dalymount Park to take on Bohemians on Friday night on the back of two home wins in quick succession.
City made it five wins from five at home this season, as they defeated St. Pat’s on Friday and Sligo Rovers on Tuesday, while their last away fixture was a 2-1 defeat to Waterford.
The home side come into the game on the back of successive away fixtures, which saw them record an impressive victory over Shamrock Rovers on Friday before slipping to defeat at the Brandywell against Derry City on Monday.
The sides met at Turner’s Cross just over a month ago, where City ran out 3-0 winners thanks to goals from Jimmy Keohane, Kieran Sadlier and Karl Sheppard.
Speaking ahead of the game, City boss John Caulfield said:“Bohs were phenomenal against Shamrock Rovers last week, they came back from one down and they played exceptionally well. They were at one-all in Derry and they had a man sent off, so it was 11 v 10, and they conceded late on to lose 3-1.”
“They’ve brought a lot of new players in and they have a lot of good players in their squad. There is a lot spoken about them being part-time, but these guys are professionals in the sense that they train four times a week. Of course, some of them have jobs but they look after themselves and it is no different to the way it was in the past.”
“We have always found it difficult going to Bohs. If you look at last year, we were going for the league and we ended up with a 0-0 draw in a game we could possibly have lost. We know it will be a very tough game and we know that, if we don’t play well, we won’t take points.”
“They have some fantastic young players with real energy and pace, but they also have some wise heads with a lot of experience. We’ve seen from watching them that they have a lot of pace and movement, and when you have pace, you’re going to cause teams problems.”
“It has been a very tough week. We needed to bounce back and we have done that well, taking six points. The only thing is that we haven’t converted some of the chances we have created, but we have kept clean sheets and we have won the games.”
Johnny Dunleavy is close to a return, while Alan Bennett is expected to be back in the squad tomorrow. Garry Buckley and Steven Beattie again miss out through suspension.
Referee: Paul McLaughlin
Injury News: Johnny Dunleavy, Alan Bennett
Suspensions: Steven Beattie, Garry Buckley
Last game: Cork City 1-0 Sligo Rovers
Last meeting: Cork City 3-0 Bohemians
League Form (most recent game first): W W L W W D
