Cork City’s Karl Sheppard has echoed the views of manager John Caulfield by insisting the club are now finally back to their best. The City boss was keen to praise his troops as they edged closer to lifting the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division
Cork City’s Karl Sheppard has echoed the views of manager John Caulfield by insisting the club are now finally back to their best.
The City boss was keen to praise his troops as they edged closer to lifting the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division title thanks to a 1-1 draw with current champions Dundalk on Monday evening.
The Leesiders quickly followed that positive result and performance with another success as they sealed their place in the Irish Daily Mail FAI Senior Cup final for a third successive year by beating Limerick 1-0 at Turners Cross on Friday night.
Cork now remain on course for their first domestic league and cup double since 1941 and speaking to reporters shortly beating their Munster Rivals in a keenly contested semi-final, Sheppard was eager to praise his teammates.
“We were saying it after the game Monday, we knew we were back,” enthused Sheppard.
“You could see it in our play and in our pressing and you could see that again in the first half tonight. We tired a bit in the second but that’s expected when you put in shifts like we do and everyone knows we're back now.”
“John (Caulfield) just sat us down and told us ‘look, you can either let the season drift on and maybe scrape a league or you can go and show what you’ve done all year.’
“We knew then what we do best. We press teams, we play good football in the final third and we pretty much try to win games from the first minute.
“That’s what we’ve gone back trying to do and you can see it tonight we were at the races again from the start.
“We lost three starting players. We lost Seanie Maguire, Kevin O’Connor and Johnny Dunleavy, I think everyone was saying Dundalk lost three over a few years and it was a big deal for them but we lost three in what, two months?
“So it was natural that we needed to find a new way of playing with boys going into new positions. It takes a while to settle in but you can see now everybody’s settled and playing well.”
It promises to be an interesting few weeks for Cork City, who could be champions the next time they take to a League of Ireland pitch.
Anything but a win for Dundalk against Finn Harps next weekend will hand the league title to City for the first time in 12 years.
A win for the Lilywhites will delay the inevitable for a further week when the Rebel’s will have the opportunity to land the silverware in their last ever visit to Dalymount Park as they take on Bohemians.
But for Sheppard it doesn’t matter where or when they finally confirm the title, nor does it matter who they will face in the FAI Cup final at the Aviva Stadium on the 5th of November, with the second semi-final between Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk set to be decided Sunday.
“To be honest it doesn’t bother me where the leagues won. You win the league over the length of the season, you don’t win it just because of one game.
“I’ve been chasing it for three years with Cork. It doesn’t bother me, trust me, where we do it.
Whether it’s Finn Harps doing us a favour or us in Dalymount or up here it doesn’t bother me as long as we get our hands on the cup.
“Everyone dug in for the team and we are happy to be through to the final again. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest who’s there as long as we go up on the day and get the win.”
