Cork City defender Redmond is settling in after loan switch from Birmingham

CORK CITY’S on-loan centre-back Joe Redmond believes that victory over Finn Harps last week will give the Rebel Army confidence as they travel to face St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night.

Having lost their opening three league games to Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk, scoring no goals and conceding 10, City got off the mark last Friday night as Alec Byrne’s second-half header was the only goal at Turner’s Cross.

The result lifted City off the bottom of the table, level on three points with Pat’s and Waterford, and Redmond was pleased with the night’s work.

“Yeah, definitely,” he says. “It was a fairly good performance from us, especially the second half. In the first half, we weren’t really at the races but in the second half, we came into our own and we dominated the game.

“We never really looked like conceding in the second half, we were much better defensively.

“We’re a young team but we’re growing and getting better with every performance. Every game, we’re improving little things. The clean sheet will help with confidence too.

“Obviously, there are things we can work on to help us out all round, but getting a clean sheet is a big bonus.”

As to what was different against Ollie Horgan’s side compared to the previous three outings, Redmond puts it down to a higher level of application than before.

“I think we ran around more,” he says, “we got in their faces a bit more, we won first, second balls. 

“We were all-round very good. The crowd were out in their numbers and it really helped us a lot.”

Dubliner Redmond joined from Birmingham City until the summer just before the start of the season, having played his underage football with St Joseph’s Boys. He has settled well on Leeside.

“I’ve really enjoyed it down here,” he says. “Everyone was welcoming, when I came in everyone was helping me and training has been excellent.

“Obviously, the facilities that we have are very good.”

On the pitch, Redmond has joined fellow loan signing, Arsenal’s Joseph Olowu, in manning the central defensive berths and it’s a burgeoning relationship between the pair.

“Me and Joseph have a good partnership on and off the pitch,” he says. "I really like playing alongside him, he communicates to me well and we pass on information well.

“We just really want to do well for each other, we have each other’s backs out there.”

Pat’s will represent another challenge for City, but it’s one Redmond is looking forward to.

“Obviously, they’ll be good,” he says. “They’re good technically but we’re more than capable of matching them, technically and physically.

“We’re trying to finish as high up as possible, we just have to take it game by game.

“They are two very good teams, but anyone can beat anyone in this league.”

Meanwhile, the board of management of Foras, the supporters’ trust which owns and runs Cork City, has confirmed that the trust has placed a freeze on accepting new members until further notice.

Current memberships will continue and overdue fees and subscription fees can continue to be paid ahead of the AGM, which takes place on Sunday, March 22. 

English businessman Trevor Hemmings, who owns Preston North End, has expressed an interest in purchasing City and an information meeting was held to furnish members with information a week and a half ago.

While there will be no vote on a potential takeover at the AGM, it’s likely that another information meeting will be held soon after that, with a vote to take place on a package agreed by representatives of Hemmings and Foras.