KARL SHEPPARD’S BRACE deservedly earned him the man-of-the-match award, but Conor McCormack was the talk of Turner’s Cross yesterday evening in the aftermath of Cork City’s victory over Dundalk.
McCormack, who joined City over the winter, delivered an excellent performance as the Leesiders recorded a 2-1 win to move six points clear at the top of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.
Until this weekend, the 26-year-old midfielder had only been used in defence by Cork City since his move from Derry City, playing at centre-half in last month’s President’s Cup triumph against Dundalk and at right-back thereafter.
However, he returned to more familiar territory in front of the back four yesterday after being tasked with a man-marking job on Dundalk playmaker Patrick McEleney, whose influence on the game was curbed by a disciplined display from McCormack.
Hailing from Carlingford, just 25 kilometres up the road from Dundalk, McCormack says yesterday’s win was no more important than any other, in spite of the fact that it gives John Caulfield’s side a substantial lead after just six rounds of games.
“It’s always great to beat Dundalk but the most important thing was that we got three points. It’s massive but the way we look at it is that it’s just another three points, just another game,” McCormack said.
“We’re not bothered about Dundalk. Let Dundalk do whatever they want to do. We’re just concentrating on winning every game and hopefully then at the end of the year we’ll be right up there.”
Following the untimely death of Derry City captain Ryan McBride, McCormack admitted that the past week has been difficult. The former Manchester United youth team player was a team-mate of McBride’s during his time in Derry.
“I played with him for 18 months,” said McCormack, who made the 900-kilometre Cork-Derry round trip on Thursday to attend Ryan McBride’s funeral.
“He wasn’t only a team-mate of mine but one of my good mates as well up there. It was very hard for a few of us, like everyone in the football community in the League of Ireland.
“All respect to him, he was as hard as nails. Everyone wanted him in their team. He was a great leader and a great captain. It was hard for us. I went up for the funeral on Thursday so there was an awful lot of travelling up and down, but I had to pay my respect to him.”
– First published 18.00
Really feel like we can get two wins from three over there. They’ll have an inexperienced coach, a massive loss with pollard although the likes of jantjies,lambi and goosen aren’t bad, a few aging players and du preez is another huge loss for them.
Bring the likes of Henderson and O Mahony back into the set up and hopefully the likes of McCloskey,Olding,Gilroy,Marshall,Healy,Ringrose can get their chance to prove themselves. Looking forward to it.
1 win would be a success considering it’s never been done before. 2 would require some serious celebrations. And 3 would probably result in the boks going into hiding and would incite a civil war.
Given the publicised politics surrounding the appointment. It will be interesting to see the selection for the Boks. Coetzee will be under significant public pressure to select new players and will they be able to do the job ?
Can’t wait too. The Ireland camp will target a win. Everything else will be a bonus. As ever, worried about the third test. We could be knackered by then with a load of injuries.
Coetzee is a very conservative coach there wont be too many new players blooded.
What’s his record & style of play like? SA where pretty dour under Meyer
Coetzee was a strong front runner only for the fact that all his competitors pulled out of the race when it was made clear selections will need to be made to appease the politicians. Nick Mallet, Rassie Erasmus, Johan Ackermann and a no. of international coaches pulled the pin & rightly so. It was very publicly stated that the new coach needs to work within certain perimeters and achieve transformation targets. In other words results come second…..
What a joke
Well the job was never publicly offered at any point, so therefore no one technically turned downed the job. Rassie did publicly state that if the job was offered to him he would take it but like I said before SARU want him in his current position as the head of the high performance unit. Johan Akerman in my opinion will get the job eventually but on his own terms with his own team when he is ready. As long as SARU operate like they still in the amateur era then the Springboks will always play catch up to the All blacks. As a Springbok fan I’m not too worried just yet, watching our varsity cup teams and baby boks there is plenty talent to keep us challenging at the top table. The biggest problem south african rugby faces is poaching of our underage talent.
Johan will not get the job on his own terms, that’s my point exactly. Poaching is a massive problem, but politics is an even bigger issue, don’t lose sight of that.
He did take the stormers into the play-offs 4 times in 6 years and he won a currie cup with western province. To say he lacks ability is a bit far fetched. If you remember correctly Jake White had only won a junior world cup and had no super rugby experience when he took over the springboks.
Do you think 4 x playoffs in Super Rugby with a golden generation of players is a good return? Currie Cup is meaningless as none of the top players in SA compete in the compo. Facts are, there are way better out there to select, however they have made themselves unavailable… Coetzee has the experience, but is very limited. His hands will be tied when selecting his team & backroom staff.
100% its not a good return but in saying that domestic success does not equate to automatic international success they can be mutually exclusive. The Currie cup that he won in 2012 was when Springboks were still allowed to play in the knockout phase. SARU would never appoint a foreign coach because the general council of 14 unions would never agree to it regardless of policy. Therefore of the current SA coaches, Jake White will never come near the job again, Heyneke lost to Japan so he had to fall on his sword, Nick Mallet is a TV presenter, Rassie and his high performance team should have got the job but SARU dont want to let him go from his position of director of rugby and Johan Akerman is not ready for the job hence him signing a 2 year extension.
I’m sure if any of the above wanted the job a plan would have been made, problem is, they didn’t which is embarrassing considering SA is supposedly a super power rugby nation. 2012 was 4 season ago, yes top Boks played, but only in semi & finals…..
Wow! Wouldn’t even make the cut in T2 rugby…