CONOR McCORMACK HAS fond memories of his time at Shamrock Rovers, but the Cork City midfielder is hoping to inflict more misery on his former club when they visit Turner’s Cross this evening.
City hold a 15-point lead at the top of the Premier Division table as they prepare to host fifth-placed Rovers on Leeside. John Caulfield’s side’s unbeaten start to the 2017 season included a 2-1 win against the Hoops in Tallaght on St Patrick’s Day.
McCormack could scarcely have hoped for a better start to life as a Cork City player. Having played a key role in their impressive campaign so far, the 27-year-old holding midfielder was named SSE Airtricity/SWAI player of the month for April.
If City can continue their good form tonight, they’ll extend their undefeated run to 20 games in all competitions, which stretches back to last November’s FAI Cup final victory over Dundalk.
McCormack joined the league leaders from Derry City at the start of the season, but he got his first taste of life in the League of Ireland back in 2011 when he returned home from Italian club Triestina to sign for Shamrock Rovers, who were then under the stewardship of current Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill.
During three seasons in Tallaght, McCormack won the Premier Division, the League Cup and the Setanta Cup (twice), before departing for St Patrick’s Athletic for the 2014 season.
“I had a good couple of years there, won a few trophies and that with them,” says McCormack, reflecting on his time as a Shamrock Rovers player. “I enjoyed my time there. There are still people there who I talk to a wee bit sometimes.
“That was my first year when I came back to the League of Ireland. We won the league, the Setanta Cup, and we were lucky enough to get into Europe that year. It was a really good spell there.”
McCormack savoured the domestic successes, but his time with Rovers was distinguished by their memorable Europa League run in 2011, when they overcame Partizan Belgrade to become the first Irish club to reach the group stages.
“We were lucky enough to have a good squad and a good manager to get us through,” recalls the Carlingford native. “We beat some good teams to get there, like Partizan Belgrade, so we were delighted with that.”
When asked how the current Cork City team compares to that Rovers side, McCormack says: “It’s definitely right up there. We have some great players who can do unbelievable things.
“We have some great defenders here this year and [at Shamrock Rovers] we had great defenders, like Dan Murray. He was our captain and he was brilliant for us. You can see now that Alan Bennett here for us is magnificent. There are similarities to the team back then and this team this year.”
After undergoing a significant overhaul of their squad over the winter, Shamrock Rovers have struggled to find consistency this season. Stephen Bradley’s side have failed to record more than two league wins consecutively and there’s already a 21-point gap to the top.
Nevertheless, McCormack insists that Cork City are expecting Rovers to be at their best for tonight’s game, which is expected to attract a sell-out crowd to Turner’s Cross.
“For the last couple of years they’ve shown potential and then they’ve dropped off. They’ve been up and down. They went and beat Dundalk but then they lose games they’re expected to win,” McCormack says.
“But we can just concentrate on them as if they’re going to come down and be all guns blazing. They’ll be trying to stop our unbeaten run and stuff, but we have to be on our game and be ready for them.”
Predictions
Every week, we’re giving readers the chance to take us on in predicting the Premier Division results. After Week 15, here are the standings:
The Readers: 44
The42: 42
Next up is Dylan O’Connell from Cork…
Bray Wanderers v Sligo Rovers — Bray Wanderers win
Cork City v Shamrock Rovers — Cork City win
Drogheda United v Derry City — Derry City win
Galway United v Bohemians — Galway United win
St. Patrick’s Athletic v Dundalk — Dundalk win
Finn Harps v Limerick — Limerick win
The42 (Paul Dollery)
Bray Wanderers v Sligo Rovers – Bray Wanderers win
Cork City v Shamrock Rovers – Cork City win
Drogheda United v Derry City – Derry City win
Galway United v Bohemians – Draw
St. Patrick’s Athletic v Dundalk – Dundalk win
Finn Harps v Limerick – Draw
If you’d like to try your hand at forecasting League of Ireland results, get in touch by e-mailing pauldollery@the42.ie
Come on Limerick
Great second half from Limerick, but they’d want to sort out those wides.
Kiely very slow to take Hickey off, Mike Casey should be already in
@Gaaonthefence: or Richie McCarthy. Either way get Hickey out of there asap.
Limerick going to regret all these wides
@Kevin Shortall: they sure are Kevin.
@Shane Doherty: as a Kilkenny man I’m delighted
Take nothing away from Limerick, I think the whole country would like to see them do well. But as a Tipp supporter, how James McGrath can officiate at this level concerns me. He is getting even the most basic decisions wrong and is so inconsistent to how he applies the rules. Just rid of Kirwan after years of bias and now we have to watch this clown ruining games.
@Dave Russell: I think the standard is poor across the board but i suppose it is a thankless job. Is there a case to look at two referees on the pitch at either end.
Here we go again, ref doing his best to ruin it, major boo boo in this lad yet ..
@Gerry Campbell: or the fact that Limerick can’t stop giving away stupid frees
@Tom49: they are all frees alright….and thats coming from a limerick man
@Tom49: well undeniably true Tom .
Very poor referee? Compliments to both teams that the game didn’t boil over?
Killing ourselves with the wides but great to see some discipline in 2nd half, great start to the campaign and something to build on now! Hon Luimneach
Well done mike ryan
Great day. The RESSURECTION started that day