Colin Healy: Cork City is a special club, it's my job to get us back to the top

CORK City may have ended the season in style with an impressive 3-0 win over a much-changed Galway side but manager Colin Healy was left lamenting the numerous bad results over the course of the campaign that cost his side a playoff spot.

Goals from Jonas Hakkinen, Alec Byrne, and Cian Coleman earned City the three points at Turner's Cross last Friday night that proved to be enough to see them climb a place in the table on the final day and finish sixth on goal difference.

But the target before a ball had been kicked in 2021 was to earn promotion or at the very least earn a playoff place but ultimately they missed out on a top-five berth by four points.

“We dropped a lot of silly points and we had a bad start to the season as well,” admitted Healy, who has now completed his first season at the helm.

“But what I would say is the team has got better and the lads have learned from their mistakes.

“They have got stronger, and they look a much better team now than they were at the start of the season so we can only take positives from that.

“We will look at the areas that we need to improve on, the players that we have, and we will put a squad together to have a much much better season next year than we had this year.

“I’m learning all the time. It is a big club, I have been around a long time within the club as well as being a player but I knew I was coming into a tough job.

“We had to work with a young team with a lot of the lads that I knew from the academy. At the start of the season, a lot of people didn’t think they were good enough but look at them now.

“They are good players, they know they can play in this league so they will have big seasons next year.” 

Healy was also keen to praise the fans as there were 2,355 in attendance against Galway with the Shed End very vocal in particular.

One of the many songs that were sung during the game was of their desire to see Barry Coffey remain at the club for next season following the conclusion of his loan deal from Celtic.

“Obviously Celtic will look after Barry Coffey and I will need to speak to them as well,” continued Healy.

“But he has come in, he has got some very, very good goals for us, he’s a good player, he’s fitted into the dressing room very, very quickly and the lads have taken to him as well.

“Even Aaron Bolger has come in, he was fantastic tonight. He’s a very, very good player and hopefully, he will be a big player for us next year.

“I will need to sit down and speak with them. There’s no point in me saying too much here, I’ll need to sit down and see where they are at and see what their plans are for next year.

“Two and a half thousand here tonight and there’s nothing to play for. I keep saying there are high standards playing for this football club.

You can see with the fans - two and a half thousand - I was just saying; ‘just imagine next year if you are sitting top of the table, that will be five or six.’ 

“Some of the kids don’t realise what this club is about until they see the crowds. I’ve seen it, I’ve witnessed it. It’s a special club and that’s my job; to get the crowds back in and get the team back where it should be.

“It’s going to be hard work, but we’re ready for that.”