A FIFTH GOAL of the season for Graham Carey helped CSKA Sofia win Bulgaria’s ‘Eternal derby’ against bitter rivals Levski Sofia over the weekend.
Carey, who found the net just before half-time in the 2-1 victory, was named man-of-the-match after CSKA continued their encouraging start to the campaign.
Ten days ago, the Irish attacking midfielder gave his side the lead away to Serie A outfit Roma, although Jose Mourinho’s side ultimately ran out 5-1 winners in the Europa Conference League fixture.
Bidding to be crowned Bulgarian champions for the first time since 2008, CSKA now find themselves just two points behind leaders Ludogorets and with the benefit of a game in hand.
“It was a great atmosphere. Our fans were brilliant, as usual, and you could tell how much it meant to them after the game,” Carey said after the win against Levski.
“We’re delighted in the dressing room. We knew how big it was for the fans and for the football club. We can obviously play better but it just shows how well we’re doing this season that we can not play our best and still win big games like this.”
Ex-#pafc midfielder Graham Carey once again proving that he's one of CSKA-Sofia's key players - he's just scored the equalisier in today's derby against Levski. Just wait for the replay and enjoy his fantastic skills...
— Metodi_Shumanov (@shumanskoo) September 26, 2021
Video: Diema Sport pic.twitter.com/B7h19YGWkw
A 32-year-old native of Dublin, Carey is now in his third season in Bulgaria. He joined CSKA from Plymouth Argyle, where he remains a fan-favourite after scoring 49 goals and assisting 58 more while making 197 appearances.
Last season, he helped CSKA win the Bulgarian Cup for the 21st time in the club’s history, as well as playing three times in the group stages of the Europa League.
After Georgi Milanov gave Levski the lead in yesterday’s derby, Carey levelled the tie with an excellent close-range finish. A second-half goal from Ecuador international Jordy Caicedo sealed the three points for CSKA.
Praising former Bulgaria boss Stoycho Mladenov, who took charge of CSKA in July, Carey said: “He gives me freedom to express myself and also plays me in my right position, behind the striker. He’s put me in there and he’s believed in me. Thankfully I’ve repaid him with some goals and assists, and hopefully that continues for the rest of the season.”
Carey, who began his professional career at Celtic, was capped by Ireland at U21 level but has not earned a senior cap.
Shameful stuff today from guys who backed themselves into a corner with their “a shag the league it’s all about may 22nd” talk. No touch no pride and no balls. Yet again Kingston is silent post match. I wish tipp well but they beat nothing.
Is it not just a case of cork not having the hurlers
It’s a very worrying time to be a cork fan. We use to be a period dual county challenging for final and hurling honours every year. Now we will be lucky to get one day out in croke park a year. Before we know it we will be like Offaly reliving part glories
Problems stem from county board
Excuse me Offaly are on a winning streak!
County teams thrive when town teams go well. When the town clubs struggle the county struggles… Bar Dublin that’s the fact of the matter that the gaa needs to tackle
Cork reaping what they sow. They neglected underage structures, assuming that they would just find hurlers, like they have always done in the past. Have sorted it out underage now though, won a clean sweep of underage titles last year, u14,u15,u16 so the sleeping giant is waking up, might take 20 years to come through but then watch out.
Kingston read the first half of the book on sweepers. Extra man back, mop up ball ala DeBurca, other defenders just hold off Tipp forwards. But once the sweeper actually got the ball he was clueless. No idea how to utilise the possession up front. No idea how to pick out an out numbered forward. Hitting balls to team mates in the middle of the park, that were in 50/50 positions at best. Painful stuff to watch, Tipp never had to break a sweat and just picked off the easy points
Spot on and it’s destroyed club hurling as well.
Black mark also against Cork juvenile “supporters” for persistant jeering of Tipp freetakers. Where did that example come from?
It was a hard day to hurl with the wind and rain but having watched the game I think Tipp can go a long way this year .
Tipp on a dry day will be better
Shambolic. And I bet .. To add insult to injury Frank Murphy told them that they were only getting ham sandwiches no butter and to make their own way home..
The sweeper system work in that the didn’t concede a goal but my god how brain dead were they using a sweeper for our own puck outs. I would be surprised if we won any of our own puck outs.
I’m sure cork people aren’t interested in the opinions of a Kilkenny man, but here goes. Certain teams ( not just Cork) are applying these new tactics in hurling , sweeper system , flood the break down areas etc…..but it doesn’t get away from the fact the two most successful teams in the last number of years Tipp and KK still stick to the standard positions in Hurling . When Cork were last successful playing more of a running/ short passing game , it was still 15 on 15 , with each player in a battle with his opposite man with the belief that if you won the majority of the battles you won the match … And I think it still stands true today.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it .
As a Cork man I am more than happy to hear your opinion. In fact I agree with you 100%. We have a suspect defence, and a very good forward line – until new players come into our defence to improve it I would much rather we try outscore teams and leak scores than deprive our forwards and play a muck brand of hurling. Sweeper systems may suit Clare, WFord etc, but I know Cork fans are horrified at the thought of us having it. And as you said, KK and Tipp don’t use them. I just hope we stop using it and start playing our own brand again.
Something seriously wrong with Cork GAS.
With this sweeper abomination hurling is danger of turning into that awful snore fest lacking basic skills that is Gaelic football
Cork GAA.
The rot starts with Murphy, Cork’s President-for-life.
How bloody boring is gaa. Every day on rte news they go through all the boring divisions of minor this and that. Has a disproportionate coverage.
Shock horror biggest sport in the country gets lions share of the coverage. Don’t turn on sky news for fear your head will explode
am i the only one who thinks it was a good idea for Cork to continue with the sweeper. The cork backline needed to be shored up and the more time William Egan gets in that role the better he’ll get, Cork would’ve been destroyed had they not used a sweeper. it’ll take time for this Cork team to fully acclimatise to the sweeper system but they’ll be better for it.
There are an amount of that Cork team not good enough for inter county hurling. Cork will not contest for major honours again for a very long time irrespective of the system they play.
Hurling needs Cork to play the old game and consign this negative ‘sweeper’ system to history. It’s just an admission of inferiority in the traditional skills and when Cork go down that road it’s fair to say that Hurling is in serious trouble.
I’m hoping that the big two, Tipp and Kilkenny beat the daylights out of the ‘sweeper’ counties, who are having great, but boring, games against one another and at least we’ll see some serious Hurling this year.
Same conditions for both teams but in saying that Cork are very poor.
This ‘sweeper’ fad is destroying open hurling.. If you can pick off points and take your frees you’ll win. Goals win games and create excitement. Obviously winning is everything for inter county teams but sacrificing excitement for results is ruining the game for spectators.
The better team will win the majority of the time but the fans want open, exciting and if possible goal fest hurling.. If this trend continues I can see more armchair spectators …
Well done to Tipp senior and intermediate teams. Having witnessed majestic Cork teams down through the years it’s sad to now see a Cork senior hurling team that’s afraid to play hurling.