Play-off place possible - Duggan
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Cork City midfielder Shane Duggan believes they can now sustain a push towards the play-offs after a good run of form which has moved the Leesiders within six points of third place.
After beating table-toppers Derry City at the Brandywell last weekend thanks to Greg O’Halloran’s second-half goal, morale is high in the City camp ahead of Friday’s crunch clash against fellow promotion candidates Waterford United.
“It was a brilliant result for us in Derry, especially after such a long day and the journey up,” Duggan told ‘Cross Eye, the club’s official matchday programme. “As everyone knows they are an excellent team in this Division, the win was hard fought but we were all delighted afterwards and it’s put us in a great position for Friday night.
“Compared to the start of the season, we almost have a totally different team. If we’re on our game we can beat anybody in this Division and if we win on Friday night, we’ll be right back in contention for the play-off places again.”
Waterford have a host of Corkmen involved, and it means the meeting of the two Munster rivals will see some friends and former foes face up against each other.
George O’Callaghan and Gareth Cambridge have both swung from Cork to the Blues and back to Leeside again, with the former expected to make his first home start on his third return to Turner’s Cross.
Duggan, meanwhile, thinks it will be a different outcome to the ‘new’ City’s first home game against the Blues back in March, where Stephen Henderson’s men convincingly won 2-0 thanks to goals from Alan Carey and Vinny Sullivan – two more former Cork players.
“We do feel that we’re good enough to make the play-offs and it’s up to us now to continue this good run and hopefully get another good result against Waterford.
“When we played them at the start of the season we had a totally different team and they gave us a bit of a hammering that night. I think it will be a totally different game on Friday,” Duggan continued.
“Everyone’s looking forward to the game. They have a good few Cork players in their team and a lot of our lads probably know the players from Waterford pretty well, so there’s going to be a bit of rivalry there. It should be a good game!
“This is the most important run in - the last round of games - and if we can get a good few wins under our belt and get up the table, this is the most important time to do it.”
After beating table-toppers Derry City at the Brandywell last weekend thanks to Greg O’Halloran’s second-half goal, morale is high in the City camp ahead of Friday’s crunch clash against fellow promotion candidates Waterford United.
“It was a brilliant result for us in Derry, especially after such a long day and the journey up,” Duggan told ‘Cross Eye, the club’s official matchday programme. “As everyone knows they are an excellent team in this Division, the win was hard fought but we were all delighted afterwards and it’s put us in a great position for Friday night.
“Compared to the start of the season, we almost have a totally different team. If we’re on our game we can beat anybody in this Division and if we win on Friday night, we’ll be right back in contention for the play-off places again.”
Waterford have a host of Corkmen involved, and it means the meeting of the two Munster rivals will see some friends and former foes face up against each other.
George O’Callaghan and Gareth Cambridge have both swung from Cork to the Blues and back to Leeside again, with the former expected to make his first home start on his third return to Turner’s Cross.
Duggan, meanwhile, thinks it will be a different outcome to the ‘new’ City’s first home game against the Blues back in March, where Stephen Henderson’s men convincingly won 2-0 thanks to goals from Alan Carey and Vinny Sullivan – two more former Cork players.
“We do feel that we’re good enough to make the play-offs and it’s up to us now to continue this good run and hopefully get another good result against Waterford.
“When we played them at the start of the season we had a totally different team and they gave us a bit of a hammering that night. I think it will be a totally different game on Friday,” Duggan continued.
“Everyone’s looking forward to the game. They have a good few Cork players in their team and a lot of our lads probably know the players from Waterford pretty well, so there’s going to be a bit of rivalry there. It should be a good game!
“This is the most important run in - the last round of games - and if we can get a good few wins under our belt and get up the table, this is the most important time to do it.”
About Alan Smith
Alan Smith works as a sub-editor for the Guardian newspaper in London. Originally from Cork, he freelances for several other newspapers and websites. Follow him on twitter @alansmith90. View Full Profile