Cork City's modern era started with a blistering win over champions Shels

TWENTY years ago this summer, Cork City swept Shelbourne aside 3-0 at Turner’s Cross, and the club’s modern history began.

It was a day when old met new, as the club shed away the 1990s and moved on to the new decade and millennium.

It was the opening day of the new season, and a new look side stepped out at the famous stadium after years of lukewarm success in Cork.

The last big trophy won by the Rebel Army was the FAI Cup in 1998. One year later, they beat Shamrock Rovers 2-1 in the League of Ireland Cup final.

The squad for those finals included Pat Morely, John Caulfield, and Patsy Freyne, a trio who played League of Ireland football since the mid-1980s. City ended the millennium with a sprinkling of Munster Senior Cup successes.

They also featured in the UEFA Cup in 2000 and 2001, and they were beaten on both occasions by opposition from Switzerland and Latvia.

At the start of the 2002 league season, a fresh crop of kids were emerging on the Leeside. This group included Alan Bennett and Neal Horgan, who were veterans of the City team that developed in the Munster Senior League and won the FAI Youth Cup in 2000.

The ranks were boosted by the acquisition of Dan Murray on loan from Peterborough United and the permanent signings of George O’Callaghan and John O’Flynn, two recent graduates of English academies.

Their gauntlet was a high-flying Shelbourne team who were desperate to get a win under new manager Pat Fenlon.

The Dubliner had just taken over the club and they were beginning on a full-time project that would lead to qualification to the Champions League play-off round in 2004.

But, that summer, Shelbourne wanted immediate success, and they had a date with Hibernian of Malta in the first qualifying round of the Champions League later that month.

A friendly was also arranged against Manchester United, which was to be Roy Keane’s first game back on Irish soil since the Saipan incident. They were a squad, even at the earliest days of the new season, who wanted it all.

The club were aiming to become the dominant team in Ireland, who regularly competed in European competitions. The first step was getting a win in Turner’s Cross before they travelled to Malta.

AMBITION

Their squad reflected the club’s ambition. That summer they signed Ollie Cahill for Cork City, and he went to Dublin with two national cup medals from his time on Leeside.

Mark Roberts was brought in from the lower leagues in Scotland, and he enjoyed considerable success with Kilmarnock and Airdrieonians.

City faced this side in front of the old Shed End and they went 1-0 up inside 15 minutes through George O’Callaghan. 

John O’Flynn doubled their lead just before half-time and after the break, Trevor Molloy was sent off for Shelbourne.

O’Flynn got his second of the game in the 77th minute and at the full-time whistle, the stadium went wild. Not only had City beaten the reigning league champions on the first day of the new season, but they put out a statement.

The new millennium had finally begun at Turner’s Cross.

Shelbourne were knocked off their stride and the squad had to have a crisis meeting on the bus up to Dublin.

That Cork City’s attention turned to the following Friday’s fixture against UCD, which they won 3-2.

They then kicked off their FAI Cup campaign with a comprehensive 9-0 victory over Glenmore Dundrum. This new look team began to find form and they ended up finishing the season fourth in the table, four points from European qualification.

City were also beaten in the semi-finals of the FAI Cup by eventual winners Derry City at Turner’s Cross. The only piece of silverware they lifted was the Munster Senior Cup and they did so after seeing off Waterford United 1-0.

This whet the squad’s appetite for success and later in 2003, the team finished third in the table and this was enough to secure European qualification.

The group’s European debut was a 4-1 aggregate win over Swedish side Malmö in the Intertoto Cup. One goal disposed of Dutch club NEC Nijmegen and this meant that Cork City became the first Irish team to qualify for the quarter-finals of a European competition.

Even though Nante got the better of them there, the players kept going. In 2005, they realised their potential domestically by winning Premier Division title after defeating Derry City 2-0 at Turner’s Cross.

That success was followed up with a 2-0 victory over Longford Town in the 2007 FAI Cup final.

All of that silverware, and those European nights, started that day in 2002 when City put three past Shelbourne.