Caulfield praises attitude of Cork players

For more photos from Matt Kirkham visit Comeragh Photos

Cork City maintained their unbeaten start to the season on Friday night, when they defeated newly promoted Athlone Town 3-0 in Athlone Town Stadium. The victory makes it 10 points from a possible 12 for the Leesiders so far this season, but the score line doesn’t give the full picture as the home side enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the first half, only to concede a goal either side of half time to leave them deflated.

When Extratime.ie caught up with John Caulfield after the game, the Cork City manager was in agreement that the timings of the goals were crucial in swinging momentum in his side’s favour.

“To be honest we were on the bench and we were saying we’d be happy to go in at half time at nil all, because we hadn’t played that well in the first half. I had wanted to make a slight adjustment and bring Liam in, and I felt he gave us a slightly different option, so we were thrilled to go in at 1-0.

“It was great for Mark to get his first goal, he worked really hard and we know what he’s all about.

“And obviously to go straight out after half time – ball goes in behind and Liam gets a flick on it and Billy has the easy task of tapping it in. I suppose at two nil, the game was over then to be fair.”

For the second week in a row, the Rebel Army went into the game as the bookmaker’s odds on favourites, but Caulfield didn’t see Friday’s game as a foregone conclusion.

“As I said the crucial thing is, it’s grand people saying it’s an easy game. You come to Athlone you’re after seven out of nine – it’s an easy game.

“There’s no easy games. You know we’ve a young team, sometimes you can get carried away and you can think it’s going to be easy, but it was a very difficult battle tonight and we needed to get those goals at those vital times to put them away.”

Though they may have no points from four, Athlone Town were perhaps the better side in the first half and we asked Caulfield if the first goal was against the run of play

“It was. We found it difficult. We were hoping to get to half time at nil all at one stage because it was difficult. They were getting quite a few corners and a lot of throw-ins close around the goalmouth with long throws.

“They were dangerous. You see other days when a fella gets a touch and it’s in the back of the net, but thankfully we defended and we were good and strong. Dan and Darren and Garry were standing up and defending very well, and we needed that.

“It was against the run of play and I suppose it was the only time really in the first half that we put the ball in the box, which is incredible really because we worked so hard at creating chances. So credit to Athlone they stopped us and they were pressing us high up the pitch and they were stopping us from getting the ball wide and to be fair to them they did well.

“It was the first time we actually got the ball deep into the six yard box, and in fairness to O’Sullivan, he was there in the right place. It was a real poacher’s goal, right place at the right time.

“We thought we’d get a lot more chances like that, but it didn’t happen in the first half so we were quite happy to go in at one nil.”

As well as being clinical in front of goal, the Leesiders have only shipped a miserly two goals so far in the league and the back five claimed another clean sheet on Friday night. For Caulfield the reasoning behind this is simple – having a regular back five.

“You can see again today we had a settled back five again, and as I keep seeing when you get players who are used to playing week in and week out you get patterns, you get understandings, and obviously it was nice to have another clean sheet.

“It’s good for confidence, it’s good for the team and it’s good for our goal difference as well.”

Cork City’s strong start to the season may have caught many off-guard, but when you consider that injuries have meant that only one of their three first choice strikers have featured this season (Anthony Elding for 65 minutes versus St Pats), their start is even more impressive.

One of the catalysts behind this start has been the form of Billy Dennehy, and Caulfield told Extratime.ie of his admiration for the Tralee native and how he had stepped up to the plate in the absence of the three strikers.

“Billy is a fantastic person. His attitude, his training…he’s just a fantastic guy. He’s at training every day, and you look at him and the effort he’s putting in and he’s just a total professional.

“It’s guys like Billy that the younger fellas look at and they’re looking at him. The likes of Gearóid and Garry and Lenihan and Kavanagh, they’re looking at Billy and Healy as well and they see the way they prepare and it’s a knock on effect. The attitude is fantastic, and they’re just a fantastic group to be involved with.”

Having ‘been there’ and ‘done it’ before, Caulfield is not about to get carried away and urges caution.

“But look it’s early days yet. We started well, but there’s going to be tough nights out there. At the same time, if we keep working hard we can be a very difficult team to play against and that’s what we want to be.”

Next up for Cork City is a top of the table clash with Shamrock Rovers in front of a packed Turner’s Cross, and the Rebel Army boss is focused on the task at hand.

“There’s obviously going to be a huge crowd down there but at the end of the day for us it’s about working hard during the week, getting our preparation right and making sure that when Rovers come down next week we give them one hell of a game.”

Although used all three substitutions at his disposal on Friday night, he told Extratime.ie that none were prompted by injury however former Woking midfielder “dropped out before the game, in the warm up” with a knock.

Caulfield then explained how it was the contrary that motivated the substitutions and how he was glad to give some of his bench some valuable minutes.

“It’s difficult for some of the lads. We’re four games in and some lads are sitting on the bench week in week out without getting any game time and they all want to get a bit of a run.

“Ian hadn’t got any run at all so it was nice to give him fifteen minutes. Obviously Liam had a bit of a hamstring for the last couple of weeks, but came in in the second half and was brilliant.

“Liam is a dink of a player, fantastic guy and did brilliant when he came on.

“And young O’Leary came on, he’s still trying to get his match fitness and he got a half an hour under his belt and it was great for him.”