Longread: A City Rising

A 4-0 win over local rivals to leapfrog them in the league at a sold out venue would usually see supporters elated and making all sorts of predictions about domination in the league, but this time it's a little different at Cork City.

Instead of a butterfly forming from a chrysalis and primed for flight this is more akin to sheltering from the rain and poking your head out to see if it's still lashing.

In this case, the clouds are starting to move away and the sun is poking through over Turner's Cross.

When Kerry teenager Seán Kennedy's effort found the back of the Galway United net last weekend to claim a second successive 3-2 victory- following Midleton's Dale Holland firing City into the next round of the FAI Cup last week- it signalled a fifth game without defeat for Colin Healy's men.

Last night's victory extended that to six unbeaten and a sixth clean sheet in the league this season for Mark McNulty, now into his 18^th season with the club.

McNulty, a previous winner of the SWAI Goalkeeper of the Year award, is in the twilight of his career and has faced some criticism this year, most notably following defeat to Cabinteely.

However, despite this, he plays an important role within the club. As well as acting as goalkeeping coach, McNulty is Cork City personified.

He'll have his moments throughout the season, both positive and negative, and he remains standing through it all and was influential in the Galway United victory with a number of fine saves.

The Ballincollig native is the elder statesman of a strong Cork spine throughout the young squad. Last night's starting lineup also included players from Carrigaline (Josh Honohan, Alec Byrne and Gordon Walker), Schull (Ronan Hurley), Kinsale (Darragh Crowley) and Fermoy (Beineon O'Brien-Whitmarsh).  

Skipper Cian Coleman went to Coláiste Críost Rí in the shadows of Turner's Cross. Cahir's Cian Murphy and Nenagh's Barry Coffey meant that winger Dylan McGlade was the only non-Munster man to start. 

Of that starting line-up against Cobh, eight of these had played with Cork City underage. The connection with the Academy remains strong off the field too as Colin Healy has recently appointed Declan Coleman to the backroom team, meaning that Healy, Coleman and Assistant Manager Richie Holland have all been previously involved with the Under 19 side.

The current Academy head is former player Liam Kearney while ex City defender Dan Murray is in charge of the 19s, Corkmen Dave Moore (U17s) and Greg Yelverton (U14s) and the return of former UEFA Youth League Under 19 boss Stephen Bermingham to the Academy as Under 15s boss makes up the underage management setup.

While it has been publicly mentioned that budget constraints forced the club's hand to go down the route of embracing locals, the evidence is that it's already a fruitful region for producing top talents.  

Alan Browne and Adam Idah are the two most prominent on the international scene at the moment, while Kevin Long is also a Premier League stalwart at Burnley at this point, Caoimhin Kelleher is backup goalkeeper at Liverpool and former City winger Chiedoze Ogbene is primed to take on League One with Rotherham United.

Sean McLaughlin and Conor McCarthy another duo operating at an elite level in Britain at the moment having cut their teeth at first team level on the Turner's Cross grass.

 Promising youngsters who have recently left the Cork City Academy in the hope of pursuing a career abroad include the exciting Ricardo Dingana (Coventry City), defender Jake O'Brien (Crystal Palace) and Ramon Gaspar who is playing in Romania.

While cognisant of the fact that it is most definitely not a precursor to a successful career, it is still a positive sign that a number of the Academy players are in current underage international squads.

Of these, Joe O'Brien Whitmarsh and Cathal Heffernan have recently signed professional deals at the club, following in the footsteps of a number of first team players including eight goal top scorer Murphy who did so in the summer of 2018.

At adult level, bar the experienced goalkeeping duo of McNulty and Paul Hunt, the returning Steven Beattie and club skipper Gearóid Morrissey are the experienced heads in a very young team which are being supported on and off the field by the club.

The aforementioned pair of McLaughlin and McCarthy have Third Level degrees from UCC in their pockets as they embark upon seasons in the Scottish Premier League and English Championship respectively.

Of the current side, a number are either current students in the college or have graduated. Ronan Hurley, Gordon Walker, Darragh Crowley and Alec Byrne all featured on Friday night and are just four examples of the strong links between UCC and the club.

The Cork City Academy has a strong record of producing quality players and the recent transfers to the professional game in Britain of McCarthy and McLaughlin show that this is possible to achieve with a dual career approach.

Injured defender Rob Slevin, (Carrigaline) is another who has experienced life at UCC, as well as representing his country at the World University Games in 2019- the third team he shared with Gordon Walker as they also experienced success at schools level with Rochestown.

A teammate at UCC and Ireland was another former City Academy player, goalkeeper David Coffey who is currently in the USA studying and playing in Toledo.

Coffey was in goal for City during their UEFA Youth League campaign of 2016 and a number of the players are still playing in the League of Ireland.

Pierce Phillips (Cobh) Cian Coleman, Alec Byrne and Ronan Hurley all featured at Turner's Cross on Friday, Denzil Fernandes is flying high at the tip of the First Division at Shelbourne while William Armshaw is scoring spectacular goals with promotion chasing Treaty United.

Of the others, Aaron Drinan - who scored last week in the EFL Cup for Leyton Orient- and the previously mentioned Ogbene and McCarthy are playing their trade in Britain. 

The first team may not currently be where their fanbase expect to be- however, in terms of a club, 'rock bottom'- as mentioned in a recent The Other Three Amigos podcast following a draw with Wexford- it certainly is not.

Last season, following the aforementioned budget cuts, saw a raft of loan signings arrive at the club from England in an attempt to stave off relegation to the First Division- ultimately it failed to achieve such an objective.

Now the rebuilding process is taking forward the solid foundations already in the club at Underage Level and beyond.

Away from the men's side, Cork City Women are competing in the WNL while they are running a number of Summer Camps in the county throughout the summer for children aged between 5 and 14 years of age where Cork City players and coaches are taking an active role.

The amputee side competed in the Champions League a few years ago while the More Than A Club programme saw a Literacy and Numeracy scheme visit classrooms throughout the county. While the FORAS may not hold the same level of financial assistance as they did prior to this season, the club is still in the hands of the local community.

The first team are no longer currently in the conversation regarding the top teams in the country, however off the field the club and its spirit remain deeply rooted in Cork.

In the words of Marcelo Bielsa, "The love has to start with your own, your place and who you are". For Cork City fans, with a local manager, local players and a strong support base waiting to return to properly pack out Turner's Cross, this could be the start of a new love story