Dunne satisfied coming from behind

Cork City manager Tommy Dunne was visibly satisfied after his side came from behind to produce a tremendous smash and grab victory over Waterford United last Friday night.

The Dubliner had commented on how it was going to be their most difficult game to date in the lead-up to kick-off, so after three draws in four games, it was nice to get a bit of luck and a massive three points away to one of their fellow promotion candidates.

“Listen, you’re coming away to Waterford and picking up three points, I don’t care how you get them. Our luck has changed a bit, but in the first five games I thought we were the better team and dropped a number of points, it will be swings and roundabouts over the season.

“For us to come and get three points against a team that I think any team that finishes above them will be either promoted first or second is brilliant. They’re a strong outfit and I think it shows as well how competitive this league is,” Dunne said.

On the game itself, Cork had fallen behind to a Paul Murphy free-kick on 39 minutes after the away side had the better share of the ball up until that point. Greg O’Halloran equalised on the stroke of half-time before against the run of play Shane Duggan finished off brilliantly to move the Leesiders into the ascendancy.

Overall, Dunne was disappointed with how they conceded the goal, and the second half performance wasn’t great, but other than that he was simply pleased that City got a rub of the green six games in. “I thought the goal that we conceded went through the wall, so I’m a bit disappointed with that aspect, but I thought overall we probably shaded the first half and they maybe had the better of the second half.

“Duggy made up for his miss [against Monaghan] last week and Greg had a great strike. There’s a few things we need to improve on and I don’t think the performance was great in the second half, but I’ll take these three points and we can work on it now.”

The victory also marked City’s first on the road this season and the importance of picking up these three points are particularly important with four games away from home in their next six in all competitions – including a trip to Tolka Park against current leaders Shelbourne.

“From our side of things it was important to see if we could get a win on the road after dropping those four points in games I didn’t think we deserved to. Coming here we got some luck because Waterford were strong here today.

“I had thought beforehand that today was going to be our biggest test, so I’m just delighted for the lads now. They’ve been working very hard and they deserved it. There’s a really good spirit there amongst them. The young lads, like Kalen Spillane have been working very hard and they’ll enjoy this win.”

Derek O’Brien, however, is likely to miss the game against Finn Harps this coming Friday after he picked up a groin injury. The winger still wasn’t fully fit after missing pre-season with a hamstring tear, but on this occasion it was the Kerryman’s groin that forced him to leave the action.

“It was his groin this time, I hope it’s not going to be too long. Since Derek has come down he has been chasing his tail trying to get fit, so he’s been getting knocked back all the time by picking up slight niggly injuries. I’m just hoping to keep him healthy for a couple of games, early on he looked very dangerous and he was playing really well.”