Dunne frustrated at away draw
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After another disappointing performance on the road last Friday night, Cork City boss Tommy Dunne was seething when ExtraTime caught up with him in Athlone.
Cork limped to a dull 0-0 draw away to the midlands outfit, and the Dubliner cut a very disappointed figure at the full-time whistle.
“Looking at the game overall, I thought it was a terrible match. From start to finish both teams were terrible. The pitch, as well, was a disaster. You couldn’t even keep your foot on it the way it was. I thought everything about tonight was poor.
“It’s another two points dropped from our side of things. With all due respects to Athlone, we’ve to be beating them. Even though it’s early on in the season, we’re getting chances and not taking them. Coming to a place like this, you’re going to get difficult games.”
While the Leesiders had 70% of the possession, they just couldn’t break down the Town defence, and Dunne was brutally honest in admitting that some of his players aren’t at full strength.
“I’m afraid to say that we have a number of bodies not firing on all cylinders. They’re nowhere near where they should be, and we can’t afford to be going one week good, one week bad. We’ve no chance of winning anything if we’re like that. It’s all about consistency.
“I do think we missed the likes of Gavin Kavanagh and Shane Duggan in the centre of the pitch, because we had to take Greg [O’Halloran] out and move in to defence. That shows that we don’t have strength in depth and our options are limited. At this present moment, it’s disappointing.
"We were sloppy at times, we could have even conceded through pure sloppiness from ourselves. It gives you an idea of what type of mental state we’re in. Coming to places like this, if you’re mentally strong you get your result. We haven’t conceded again, but still, a number of people need to step up to the mark.”
There was no doubting that Athlone had set out in search of a draw, and for most of the game they had ten men behind the ball. Still, if Dunne was in the opposite dugout, he admitted that he would have employed the same tactics.
“If I was Mike Kerley, I would have done the exact same thing. With the players he has got, it’s up to us to be able to break them down and take the chance to break them down. With the ball bouncing around on this sort of pitch, you need someone to be there at the end of it to finish it off and we just don’t have that at the minute.”
Cork limped to a dull 0-0 draw away to the midlands outfit, and the Dubliner cut a very disappointed figure at the full-time whistle.
“Looking at the game overall, I thought it was a terrible match. From start to finish both teams were terrible. The pitch, as well, was a disaster. You couldn’t even keep your foot on it the way it was. I thought everything about tonight was poor.
“It’s another two points dropped from our side of things. With all due respects to Athlone, we’ve to be beating them. Even though it’s early on in the season, we’re getting chances and not taking them. Coming to a place like this, you’re going to get difficult games.”
While the Leesiders had 70% of the possession, they just couldn’t break down the Town defence, and Dunne was brutally honest in admitting that some of his players aren’t at full strength.
“I’m afraid to say that we have a number of bodies not firing on all cylinders. They’re nowhere near where they should be, and we can’t afford to be going one week good, one week bad. We’ve no chance of winning anything if we’re like that. It’s all about consistency.
“I do think we missed the likes of Gavin Kavanagh and Shane Duggan in the centre of the pitch, because we had to take Greg [O’Halloran] out and move in to defence. That shows that we don’t have strength in depth and our options are limited. At this present moment, it’s disappointing.
"We were sloppy at times, we could have even conceded through pure sloppiness from ourselves. It gives you an idea of what type of mental state we’re in. Coming to places like this, if you’re mentally strong you get your result. We haven’t conceded again, but still, a number of people need to step up to the mark.”
There was no doubting that Athlone had set out in search of a draw, and for most of the game they had ten men behind the ball. Still, if Dunne was in the opposite dugout, he admitted that he would have employed the same tactics.
“If I was Mike Kerley, I would have done the exact same thing. With the players he has got, it’s up to us to be able to break them down and take the chance to break them down. With the ball bouncing around on this sort of pitch, you need someone to be there at the end of it to finish it off and we just don’t have that at the minute.”
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