DERRY CITY MANAGER Kenny Shiels expressed his anger over the SSE Airtricity League’s scheduling of their fixture against Cork City after seeing his side suffer a heavy defeat to the Leesiders.
Four days since they recorded an extremely commendable 2-1 win over Dinamo Minsk in Belarus, the Candystripes were beaten 5-0 by the Premier Division champions at Turner’s Cross last night.
Shiels, who insisted that fitness was the difference between the two teams, was furious that his players were forced to embark on a 450-kilometre journey to Cork so soon after completing a 6,000km round trip from Minsk.
In spite on their second-leg win in Belarus on Thursday, Derry failed to advance to the second qualifying round of the Europa League after narrowly missing out on overcoming their two-goal first-leg deficit.
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Two days earlier, Cork City fell at the first hurdle in the Champions League. A 3-0 defeat away to Legia Warsaw gave the Polish champions a 4-0 victory on aggregate.
“It was cruelty to my players,” Shiels told RTÉ after last night’s game. “We’ve played on Thursday. We’ve travelled all the way home and then all the way to Cork. We haven’t had one training session and they’ve had five days of preparation for this. It’s bang out of order.
“The longest journey in the league is Cork to Derry or Derry to Cork, and they have this fixture the same week as the two teams are playing in Europe. [Cork] were playing on Tuesday, we were playing on Thursday. We’re just back from our trip. I’m not even back from the trip yet.
Derry City manager Kenny Shiels after watching his team lose 5-0 to Cork City. Stephen McCarthy
Stephen McCarthy
“It’s a disgrace what they’ve done, making us play this game here on the Monday after us travelling all the way, and then we have to travel six-and-a-half hours down to Cork after it all.
“The boys are not fit. They’re on their knees. It was pure fitness that won the match. It’s cruelty, absolute cruelty.”
A brace from Garry Buckley, as well as goals from Jimmy Keohane, Damien Delaney and Ronan Coughlan, helped Cork to narrow the gap to a point on leaders Dundalk, who have a game in hand.
John Caulfield’s side travel to bottom club Bray Wanderers on Friday, while Derry host St Patrick’s Athletic in a battle of the teams in fifth and sixth respectively.
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'It's a disgrace what they've done... The boys are not fit. They're on their knees'
DERRY CITY MANAGER Kenny Shiels expressed his anger over the SSE Airtricity League’s scheduling of their fixture against Cork City after seeing his side suffer a heavy defeat to the Leesiders.
Four days since they recorded an extremely commendable 2-1 win over Dinamo Minsk in Belarus, the Candystripes were beaten 5-0 by the Premier Division champions at Turner’s Cross last night.
Shiels, who insisted that fitness was the difference between the two teams, was furious that his players were forced to embark on a 450-kilometre journey to Cork so soon after completing a 6,000km round trip from Minsk.
In spite on their second-leg win in Belarus on Thursday, Derry failed to advance to the second qualifying round of the Europa League after narrowly missing out on overcoming their two-goal first-leg deficit.
Two days earlier, Cork City fell at the first hurdle in the Champions League. A 3-0 defeat away to Legia Warsaw gave the Polish champions a 4-0 victory on aggregate.
“It was cruelty to my players,” Shiels told RTÉ after last night’s game. “We’ve played on Thursday. We’ve travelled all the way home and then all the way to Cork. We haven’t had one training session and they’ve had five days of preparation for this. It’s bang out of order.
“The longest journey in the league is Cork to Derry or Derry to Cork, and they have this fixture the same week as the two teams are playing in Europe. [Cork] were playing on Tuesday, we were playing on Thursday. We’re just back from our trip. I’m not even back from the trip yet.
“It’s a disgrace what they’ve done, making us play this game here on the Monday after us travelling all the way, and then we have to travel six-and-a-half hours down to Cork after it all.
“The boys are not fit. They’re on their knees. It was pure fitness that won the match. It’s cruelty, absolute cruelty.”
A brace from Garry Buckley, as well as goals from Jimmy Keohane, Damien Delaney and Ronan Coughlan, helped Cork to narrow the gap to a point on leaders Dundalk, who have a game in hand.
John Caulfield’s side travel to bottom club Bray Wanderers on Friday, while Derry host St Patrick’s Athletic in a battle of the teams in fifth and sixth respectively.
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A tale of two cities League of Ireland LOI Cork City Derry City