Friday is fast approaching and Ger Nash is awaiting his first home fixture as Cork City manager at Turner’s Cross. This will not be Nash’s first time at the Cross as he has played there in his days as an Ireland underage International.
This first test will be a tough one as the reigning champions Shelbourne make the trip down south. Shels are coming off the back of a 3-2 win over Cork City’s fellow relegation candidates Sligo Rovers. John Martin bagged himself a hat-trick in the space of 24 minutes, his last hat-trick coming 8 years ago taking his tally for the season to 4 goals.
Damien Duff’s side have not kicked on as much from the successes of last season as they currently sit 6th in the Premier Division outside of the European spots. It’s not all doom and gloom for Shels however as they’re much anticipated Champions League campaign kicks off very soon.
Nash took the reigns for his first game as City gaffer at Éamonn Deacy Park last Friday Night as his side conceded a late winner courtesy of substitute and ex-Cork City player Conor McCormack as he struck his shot away with acres of space in the box to stop Galway’s 4 loss streak.
Conceding late goals has been the story of City’s season as they have dropped a staggering 20 points from winning positions this season. This could be down to lapses of concentration late on in games or truly just an experienced backline.
City have added to their injury list as Harry Nevin and Kitt Nelson are the most recent additions to this list as they join Ruairí Keating, Malik Dijksteel and Benny Cuoto.
Shelbourne on the other hand have their whole squad available bar Sean Boyd, Paddy Barrett and Lewis Temple
The City faithful are started getting annoyed with the situation at the club currently with fans squaring up to each other in the away end regarding certain fans booing the players. It’s fair to say if City don’t get a result against Shelbourne on Friday things could seriously get nasty in Cork and City will be in real danger of being set adrift from the rest of the league as they sit 9th with the same amount of points as Sligo Rovers with 8th place Waterford being 10 points infront.
It’s a much needed performance and result on Friday Night or things will go from bad to worse in Bishopstown.
Picture taken by KBD Photos.