Cork City's Ryan Delaney on transfer talk: 'The next couple of weeks will be the deciding factor'

Ryan Delaney has been one of the signings of the League Of Ireland season and Cork City have benefited from the strong impact that he has made on Leeside.

The 20-year-old has produced a series of impressive displays at centre back since he arrived on loan from English Championship side Burton Albion.

Delaney scored a brace in what was another memorable night at Turners Cross with a 4-1 victory over Shamrock Rovers, taking his tally in the Premier Division to four goals for the season.

Cork are hoping to extend Delaney’s stay at the club beyond the end of the current loan deal. He is due to go back to Burton in July.

Given the performances he has produced in a City jersey to date, it is no wonder City are keen to want him to stay on, especially with of the commencement of their Europa League campaign shortly.

Speaking to the assembled press following City’s impressive win over Rovers, which keeps City a whopping 15 points clear at the top of the table, Delaney stated how both City boss John Caulfield and Burton manager Nigel Clough are currently in talks about the player’s immediate future.

“John and Nigel have been in talks. The next couple of weeks will be the deciding factor to see what the story is,” said the former Wexford Youths man.

“I think that the first couple of games I was a bit rusty because I was not playing too much competitive football, more reserve team football over in Burton. That was good for me, but there was no competitive edge.

“I think that since I came to City, I have gradually improved each game. So the main thing for me is trying to improve in every game that I play.

“The two lads (Alan Bennett and John Dunleavy), have bags of experience, so the main thing for me is just to improve and take parts of their game and bring them into my own to hopefully make me a more complete defender.”

Delaney also revealed that the comments of Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley helped to make the City side more focused to perform.

“I wouldn’t say they were slating us, but he was putting us down a small bit. So we knew straight away we are going to give it our all here and show him what we are made of and see what he thinks of us after that.”