Caulfield disappointment over Cup exit

Owen Heary’s Bohemians have held an Indian side over Cork City this season, and Monday night was no different. Heary and Cork City manager John Caulfield know each other well at this stage; both are sitting their UEFA Pro Licence together, and this FAI Cup replay was the fourth time the sides have met (so far) this season.

Of those games, Bohemians have won twice, while the Rebel Army had to rely on a dramatic late equaliser from Dan Murray last Friday night to force this replay.

When Extratime.ie caught up with Caulfield after the game, the former Avondale manager was understandably frustrated at his side’s result.

“We’re disappointed. Possession wise I thought we dominated the game but we didn’t create a lot of clear chances. We probably had four or five half chances but I suppose I felt that particularly in the first half Bohs hadn’t really caused us any problems. I was disappointed with the goal – it was a very sloppy goal from an easy cross into the box that passed a lot of bodies and then he tipped it in at the back post.

The Cork City manager admitted that his side looked tired at times while pointing to the lack of a killer ball in the Leesider’s approach play.

“It’s just one of those nights. We tried and their keeper made two or three good saves. I thought both teams looked a small bit jaded being honest with you; it wasn’t a good quality game.

“Hopefully we’ll have recovered and gotten our energies up for Friday night.

“We’d a lot of possession and at times we took the wrong option. Sometimes we maybe didn’t play the penetrating pass enough and maybe going a bit square too often.”

“It was frustrating from that point of view because in the first half I thought we did well. We had a few half chances and I thought we were controlling the game.

“But that’s the cup, we lost 1-0 and good luck to them and it was a good win for them and we’re disappointed.”

Caulfield knows he doesn’t have time to dwell on the defeat however, as his charges travel to Lissywoolen on Friday night to take on Athlone; the next hurdle in their quest to reign in league leaders Dundalk.

“It’s annoying to be out of the cup but look it At the same time, I said to the lads we’ve eight huge games to go. We’ve nothing bigger than Athlone on Friday night because we’re travelling again. It’s our fifth game in two weeks so it’s hard going, especially with three times travelling on the road.

“Look it, you can’t feel sorry for yourself. You have to see if you can bounce back and try and turn it around. It’s going to be a very difficult game on Friday night, but as I said to the lads we have a choice. Either get our act together and try and push Dundalk to the end or just flitter away to the end.

In a game of few clear cut chances, the Rebel Army were crying out for a player like John O’Flynn. Having scored the only goal in the 1-0 win over Derry City a fortnight ago, O’Flynn was withdrawn with a groin complaint at half time and Extratime.ie asked Caulfield was the former Barnet striker any closer to a return.

“Hopefully he will be. It’s one of those ones. He hurt his groin and when you hurt your groin you’re out for two weeks and it will be two weeks on Friday night so hopefully against Athlone he will be back.

“It’s one of those where you can’t play injured players and unfortunately this year we’ve had a fair few injuries. Even Rob Lehane who has been fantastic for us, so hopefully the two of them will be back for Friday night or at least for the following week.”

Caulfield is pragmatic though, and while his team will now not get the chance to play in the Aviva this year, he knows that they must concentrate on the task at hand – the league.

“We’re second in the table and we’ve done incredibly well. We’re in a much better position than the club have been in for of years. We’re probably exceeding expectations but I never felt that way. I felt that we have a decent side and with lads that have worked very hard and I suppose the way I look at it is…we’re still in there.

“Worst case scenario is that we drop off and we just flitter away on the run but from my point of view I hope that doesn’t happen and that we can recharge the batteries and give a storming last eight matches and see where it gets us. Certainly we need to box off Europe and qualify for Europe and maybe if we can just get our act together and hit our form on the run in, you never know, we can put the pressure on Dundalk.”