Cork City fans remain optimistic despite opening day defeat

Fans of Cork City FC are remaining optimistic for the season ahead, despite last Friday’s 1-0 defeat at to Shelbourne at Turners Cross.

With five minutes remaining, former City striker Ciarán Kilduff rose the highest in a goal month scramble to snatch the winner in front of a crowd nearing 4,000 people.   

Despite the frustration out of such a late goal, fans of the Rebel Army were upbeat and positive after the full time whistle. 

One fan told Extratime.ie: “After looking back at the highlights, we played well but were lacking a little luck. 

“When you have eight players making their first team debut, it’s always going to be a challenge starting off.” 

City now have back to back away fixtures against Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk, two grounds which the club have not won in since 2017. 

These wins – a 2-1 win in Tallaght Stadium and a 3-0 win in Oriel Park – came in a year when the Rebel Army captured the imagination of the Irish footballing community.

That season, they won their very first league and cup double in a squad known for its attacking flair and defensive rigidity. 

Now, the club finds themselves scrambling under the weight of their former glories and the threats of what could. 

This all stems from a disastrous 2019 which saw City fall from title challengers to relegation contenders. 

The FAI Cup and Europa League brought more misery, with losses to First Division side Galway United and Luxembourgish club Progrès Niederkorn. 

“You’d cry if you dwelled on how bad we were,” one supporter explained, “We just have to keep going forward.” 

The man tasked with this is current City boss Neale Fenn. The former Longford Town manager was brought to Leeside in August 2019 to save the club from relegation and resurrect pride and passion in the green jersey. 

In his first two months in Cork, he guided the club to safety by beating reigning league champions Dundalk. The result sparked joyful scenes between Fenn and the fans at full time as his philosophy slowly began to take hold.

“That night you could really see what Fenn was doing with the club,” a 20-year old student spoke of that night. “There was a desire there that wasn’t all season.”  

Four months on, Fenn now has his own squad to play around with and the common feeling around the club is excitement for where their new manager is going.  

“You could see what he wanted the squad to do in preseason and it’s very exciting the way he has us playing now.

“His playing style is very attacking and direct. The pace on the team is unbelievable,” explained a 20-year-old student.  

Despite the opening day defeat, City showed glimpses of promise with a possession based attacking philosophy.

Driven by Dylan McGlade and Daire O’Connor on the wings, aided by the raw pace of Kyron Stabana and the defensive mind of Joseph Olowu, the home side battled until the final second of the game for a result.

“It’s great to see so much passion and pride in the team,” a seventy-year-old fan said to Extratime.ie.

It was here last year, the club lost 2-0 in a derby day defeat to Waterford FC in their first home game of the season. That night ended with cacophony of boos towards John Caulfield and his squad.

Now the terraces and turnstiles were filled with quite conversation and talk of what was going to happen next.

A feeling of hope seemed to resonate through the turnstiles and onto the bar stools well after kickoff.

There was something there on the night in Fenn’s style and tactics, and fans are optimistic and excited for what happens next.