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Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Honours even as Shelbourne deny Cork City much-needed victory
Premier Division: Cork City 1 Shelbourne 1 Cork City's wait for a first clean sheet of the season goes on as they squandered another lead against Shelbourne at Turner's Cross on Friday night. Seani Maguire's superb second-half header looked to have earned the relegation battlers a crucial three points but substitute Ali Coote's stunner snatched a draw for the champions. Ahead of this, his first home game in charge of the club, Ger Nash stressed the importance of Cork City establishing an identity if they are to one day return to their glory days. Bringing former City midfielder and Leeside native David Meyler in as his assistant manager was a key part of 'Operation Corkness', although he won't take his place in the dugout until after the upcoming mid-season break. But it's the performances on the pitch and the subsequent results that follow that will matter most to the City faithful. And the 2,821 in attendance will surely have been pleased with what they saw in the first half as City penned Damien Duff's men into their own half for the majority of the opening 45 minutes, plus four added on. All that was missing, crucially, was at least one goal to give them the advantage they thoroughly deserved. The returning Seani Maguire – the only change Nash made from their 2-1 loss away to Galway United in his first outing – was a constant threat and he had a penalty appeal waved away just shy of the quarter of an hour mark before he later poked Djenairo Daniels' neat layoff straight at the keeper. The link up between the two forwards will give Nash plenty of encouragement, as will Milan Mbeng's marauding display at right-wing back, as will how dangerous they looked from set-pieces with Freddie Anderson going close on couple of occasions before Charlie Lyons stung the palms of Lorcan Healy with a powerful near post header from Evan McLaughlin's free kick. It was McLaughlin who went closest to scoring moments earlier though, but he was unfortunate to see his curling, dipping strike from distance clip the top of the crossbar. John O'Sullivan would finally muster an effort of note for Shelbourne before the interval but his thunderous drive inside the penalty area was nodded clear by Lyons. Even if Shels had finally shown signs of life in those closing stages, Duff would still show how unhappy he was with their first half efforts as he made three substitutions during the break. The changes seemed to make a difference, but only for all of 12 minutes as City would take the lead during Shelbourne's best spell in the game. Mbeng again showcased his quality, charging down the right before whipping a precise cross towards Seani Maguire, who rolled back the years by rising high above his marker to nod the ball powerfully beyond Healy. That was virtually Maguire's last involvement in the contest as City, who have squandered leads far too often so far this season, brought on the experienced holding midfielder and coach Greg Bolger, in a bid to contain their old rivals. Shelbourne's Ali Coote scores. Pic: Bryan Keane/Inpho That idea lasted all of five minutes as substitute Ali Coote snatched an equaliser on 71 minutes when his angled thunderbolt from long-range found the net via the inside of the far-left post to ensure City's long wait for that elusive first clean-sheet goes on. The Rebel Army showed some defensive solidity late on to at least secure a point, although that nearly became three in injury time, but Rio Shipston's low hit was saved. CORK CITY (3-5-2): Troost; Anderson, Lyons, Crowley; Mbeng, Murray (Shipston 73), O'Sullivan (Nolan 89), McLaughlin, Fitzpatrick (Djiksteel 73); Daniels, Maguire (Bolger 66). SHELBOURNE (4-2-3-1): Healy; O'Sullivan (Norris ht), Coyle, Ledwidge, Wilson (Barrett ht); Lunney, McInroy; Chapman (Coote 65), Wood (Odubeko ht), Caffrey; Martin (Kelly 83). Referee: Marc Lynch.
RTÉ News
12-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Cork City at a crossroads but where next for the club after Tim Clancy's exit?
When Cork City returned to the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for this season, there was quiet optimism that they could make an impact this season and avoid yo-yoing straight back down. Much of their hopes rested on the firepower provided by strike duo Seani Maguire and Ruairi Keating. However, after a solid opening few rounds, Cork were dealt a blow with Maguire ruled out for a number of weeks and Keating suffering a season-ending injury, one of many lay-offs that have impacted the squad in this campaign. The club are now second from bottom in the Premier Division's relegation play-off spot, with only struggling Sligo Rovers three points behind them and eighth place and definitive safety increasingly further away on the horizon. But now Cork City have to go in search of a new manager after manager Tim Clancy brought the curtain down on his 18-month tenure minutes after Friday's 2-1 defeat to Derry City at Turner's Cross. "The decision to leave is mine and mine alone," the former Drogheda United and St Patrick's Athletic boss said. The Meathman, who had guided them to top flight promotion last year, later outlined some of the challenges he had faced in comments to The Echo newspaper, including his former assistant Jamie Hamill's return to Scotland for family reasons, the strain of juggling the demands of the management role along with personal considerations and a seemingly never-ending injury list. But as the club go in search of a new manager, how should they approach the next few weeks and months which look set to simply be a battle for survival. Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, former UCD, Shamrock Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Paul Corry said a back to basics approach was their best foot forward, especially in light of the way Waterford have rebounded from a dire run of form recently. "Getting the balance between expectations and budgets is probably important here," he said. Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. "Cork have only just been promoted and yes, they've put probably great resource into getting the likes of Seani and Keating into the building. "But being realistic here, solidifying their position within the Premier Division has to be the goal of this season. "Already, you can see that it feels almost like it's Sligo, Cork and then the rest and the situation of Waterford picking points probably doesn't help anybody at Cork because you can see what a change has done for that team, for that club as a whole and the gap that it's created between themselves, Cork and Sligo. "So I think somebody who's going in there with just a level head of what needs to be done in order to maintain that Premier Division status because that then becomes the foundation that you build upon. "It's very unrealistic, I think, to land into the Premier Division and expect then to aim for a top-half finish. "You've got a lot of young players within that Cork City squad who are probably only playing in the Premier Division for the first time who are learning about the game and unfortunately being exposed to what higher level football entails, whereby you make mistakes, you get punished and that's why they've dropped a lot of points." Corry added that from watching Cork's play this season, what has been notable has been a "massive gulf" in the middle of the park "What I would like to see from someone going in there is to get them back to being well drilled, well organised, try to be a team that can graft out points," he said. "The goals of the club very much need to be aligned with who's coming in and ensuring that Cork have a foundation when we're speaking here in the next six to nine months that they can build upon to get to the next level." As for Clancy's legacy, ex-Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers and Brighton midfielder Richie Towell said the 40-year-old had been unfortunate with the circumstances he had been dealt this season. "I think he's been really, really unlucky. He did kind of put all his eggs in one basket a little bit with signing Seani Maguire and Ruairi Keating, thinking that 'if we can keep it solid at the back, these two boys will fire us to glory,'" he said. "And then I watched some of the games as well and you see the keeper gives away the penalty last week (against Drogheda United), he gets caught in no man's land (against Derry). You can't coach stuff like that. That's just bad decision-making from the players that are on the pitch. "I think he did really well to get them promoted but I think he's been really unlucky with injuries and some of the decision-making from his own players. "So sometimes you do need a fresh voice to get the best out of some players. Like you see what's after happening with Waterford - couldn't buy a win and now all of a sudden they've won four in a row, interim manager and then new manager comes in and there's a little bit of a freshness about the place and I think maybe that's now what Cork City need just to kick them on a little bit."
The Irish Sun
07-05-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Seani Maguire set for long-awaited Cork City return after injury hell
SEÁNI MAGUIRE is set return to action for the first time in 11 games when Cork City host Derry City at Turner's Cross on Friday. Striker Maguire, 31, has not featured since Advertisement 2 Seani Maguire of Cork City looks set to return for the LOI side after an injury nightmare 2 Seani Maguire has not featured since Cork's third game of the 2025 season But boss Tim Clancy has confirmed he is close to a return, with hopes he gets the green light from medics to feature on Friday. Clancy said: 'We have to get a couple of follow up tests this week but the hope is Seáni will be available and ready to get on the pitch. 'We need to get Biodex scans done to see where he is from the scans of three weeks ago. There was positive signs and he's done a lot of work since so should be available. 'Seáni looks after himself by doing everything right. Advertisement Most read in Football "We're not rushing him back so once all the indicators from Joe (Normoyle, physio) and the medical team come back fine we'll phase him back into matchplay, hopefully from Friday.' Maguire is been a big loss for City in his second stint at the club having helped them win the But he rejoined the club last July, scoring seven goals in the run-in as they won the First Division crown. And he started the season well with a goal and assist in their victory over Advertisement Most read in Football Clancy also confirmed that Greg Bolger, who has missed the last three games having returned to action after a month out, is available again as are Milan Mbeng and Josh Fitzpatrick. Malik Dijksteel should return in the next three weeks while Benny Couto will be a little longer. Inter Milan hero Frattesi drops F-bomb live on TV after win over Barcelona leaving CBS Sports studio in hysterics
