Murphy fully focused on league clash

While the fixtures will tell you that Saturday evening’s game with Derry City is a cup final, for Cork City defender Danny Murphy, it is tonight’s trip to Waterford that holds more importance.

For a couple of months now every game has been treated as a must-win, but with only six league matches to go until the end of the season, and the battle for second place still as tight as ever, a defeat in the south-east this evening could spell disaster for City.

“I don’t think Saturday is that important at this moment in time because we need to win in Waterford,” Murphy says. “We’ve to treat it as a cup final and go out and win the game. Every league game from now until the end of the season is a cup final if we want to get out of this division.”

At the same time City were being beaten by St Pat’s in the FAI Cup quarter-final last Friday, Limerick came from behind to defeat Shelbourne in Tolka Park to keep their hopes of promotion very much alive. Pat Scully’s team drew level with City in third place — albeit with a game extra played — and that makes this evening’s clash all the more critical.

“It’s very important, we have to go and win the game now,” Murphy adds. “We’ve put pressure on ourselves by drawing too many games and we now have to go and win if we want to go up. As a club and as players, we don’t want to be in this division. I think that we have to aim to get past Shels even though they’re so far ahead and if we end up in second place, then so be it. We need to set ourselves that target though.”

Indeed, the last day of the season sees City make the trip to Dublin to face the runaway leaders, so surely it’s all being set up for a tense finale on October 29?

“Hopefully we have something to play for come that game,” he adds. “But the Monaghan game at home is going to be a big one too because we really need to pick up the three points there as well, because they’ve a game in hand over us now. We have to win every game that’s left this season if we want to return to the premier league.”