Caulfield adds young duo to City ranks

Cork City Manager, John Caulfield, has strengthened his squad ahead of the SSE Airtricity League kick-off with the acquisitions of young striker, Rob Lehane and goalkeeper, Kevin O’Brien.

Lehane returns to The Rebels after a short spell with Munster Senior League outfit, UCC. A spell that Lehane believes has significantly benefited him heading into the 2014 season.  “I spent some time with UCC, and I think it went really well. I am a lot sharper now than I was last season, so I am hoping that I can get a bit of game time and score a few goals.” Lehane explained to CorkCityFC.ie.

The young striker understands that the City squad is full of quality, but is adamant that he will fight for his place. “I know that I will have to fight for playing time, and my goal is just to take whatever opportunities I get and to make the most of them.”  Lehane explained.

One of Lehane’s potential strike partners is 20 year-old Danny Morrissey. Morrissey scored nine goals in all competitions last season and Lehane admits that he will be delighted if he can reach anywhere near the height that Morrissey did last season.  “If I could do anything like what Danny did last season, I would be delighted. Towards the end of last season he was unbelievable.” Lehane admitted to CorkCityFC.ie.

New City boss, John Caulfield was full of praise for 20 year-old Lehane and he has challenged the striker to make the step up. “The step up is going to be challenging for him; he has been scoring a lot of goals in The Munster Senior League and has done really well. He is back now to compete; he is a young guy learning the game and we have high hopes for him.” Caulfield told CorkCityFC.ie.

City has also signed Cork native goalkeeper, Kevin O’Brien. O’Brien has returned home after spells in England and the United States. He has spent the last couple of weeks training with City and Cork boss, John Caulfield feels that the arrival of the young shot stopper creates a strong degree of depth in The Rebel’s goalkeeping ranks. “He’s a good keeper, although he does lack experience at this level. He was in America for a number of years, and he has signed now which gives us good back up as we now have three keepers at the club,” the City boss explained.

O’Brien is a looking forward to testing himself against fellow City keepers, Mark McNulty and new signing, Matt Gledhill. “There are three keepers here at the club now and we are all trying to push ourselves and push each other.” O’Brien told CorkCityFC.ie.

Both signings could make their debuts this Friday night, as The Rebels kick off their 2014 campaign against reigning League Champions, St Patrick’s Athletic at Turner’s Cross.