CORK CITY’S new manager Colin Murphy was given more reason to smile at Turner’s Cross last night when Cork City were crowned Munster Senior Cup champions for the third successive season.
With Murphy keeping an eagle eye on proceedings Cork turned on the style with Ollie Cahill in particular in devastating form as he netted a hat trick and lay claim to the match ball.
City had been struggling to make an impact for the first 45 minutes but they woke from their slumber on the resumption to take the lead just two minutes after the re start. Colin O’Brien floated a perfectly weighted cross to the far post where Pat Morley was poised to head home for the lead.
City continued to set the pace for the half and just 10 minutes later they doubled their lead.
The Ollie Cahill show breezed into town as the flying winger bagged his first when he expertly trapped a John Caulfield cross on his chest before turning brilliantly before rifling home a thundering right footed drive to the back of the net. Cahill wasn’t finished yet and when Pat Morley threaded through a great ball the flying winger was on hand to slide the ball home past the advancing John Donegan.
Cahill was again on target minutes later when he drilled home a superbly flighted shot from boutside the area and City made it a night to remember for the departing Dave Barry when John Caulfield bagged their fifth minutes from time. Unfortunately the match threatened to take an ugly turn on 75 minutes when City’s Greg O’Halloran and Cobh’s Donal Golden were sent off for an altercation on the sideline.
Thankfully, however, there were no further incidents as City strolled home to a relatively comfortable win over their local soccer rivals.
Last night’s win was City’s only trophy of the season but of more importance for a lot of the Cork City players will be the impression they made on Murphy who watched the action closely from the stands.
Colin Murphy’s first task as Cork City manager will be to meet with the players he has inherited from Dave Barry in order to tie them into contracts ahead of this summer’s pre season. “I had a long talk with Dave (Barry) tonight about the squad and I have been privy to who is actually out of contract for quite some time so I know just who I will have to talk to. “The likes of Daly and Coughlan are out of contract and I will have to sit down with all these players because at the end of the day you can’t field a team without players,” said Murphy.
“If the players in question are good consistent contributors and have the heart and soul of Cork City in their hearts and brains then I will obviously want and need to keep them,” he added. Murphy has been accused in the past of employing a long ball game during his spell with Shelbourne but, the new manager insists, that he will not be using those tactics with Cork. “While not wishing to be damning I didn’t really enjoy playing that way with Shelbourne but I had no other options. “When I took over the players were overweight, not fit and really didn’t care that much and I had to change that.
“People said that we wouldn’t get results yet we got into Europe and got to an FAI Cup Final. If I had stayed the second season I would have changed that style but I wasn’t there to implement those ideas. “Cork on the other hand are well organised, fit and have a tremendous spirit and really those tactics wouldn’t work here. Cork play football and do so very well. That is how they play and it would be pointless to try and change that. “Obviously I have ideas on how to change a couple of things but in the games I have seen I have been very impressed with aspects of their play and I know what I am taking over and am looking forward to it,” Murphy said. For Dave Barry and the Cork City players was all about giving Barry a fitting send off and they did just that while also showing the new manager exactly what they are capable of.
 
 

©The Irish Examiner 29/04/00