Cork soccer has strong ties to north-east of England from Raich Carter to Roy Keane

ON paper, Cork and Sunderland are two massive port cities with seafront views.

Once the surface is scratched, the real link between Leeside and Tyne and Wear is football. This goes right back to 1953 when Sunderland-born Raich Carter moved to Cork Athletic from Hull City.

The talismanic forward had won a clean sweep of domestic honours with the Black Cats in the 1930s and he lifted the FA Cup with Derby County in 1946.

Carter was a gigantic figure who announced himself in Ireland by helping Athletic win the FAI Cup and Munster Senior Cup in 1953. It was in the national cup where he wrote his name into Irish football history. In the final at Dalymount Park, against local rivals Evergreen United, Carter opened the scoring in the 37th minute.

The game finished 2-2 and in a replay, the Englishman knocked in Athletics’ second of the game. Despite Liam O’Neill pulling one back for Evergreen, Athletic hung on and Carter’s goal was the difference.

Links between Cork and Sunderland were strengthened by Brian Clough, who took over Derby County in 1967. The Middlesbrough-born coach learned everything he did about football management from Alan Brown at the Black Cats. Clough played under Brown from 1961 to 1964, when he was forced to retire due to injury.

Brown also coached Amby Fogarty at Sunderland and the Dubliner took over Cork Hibernian as manager in 1966.

When he needed to strengthen his squad, Fogarty contacted Clough. The Derby County boss sent Dave Wigginton to Hibs and he was supposed to be joined by goalkeeper Alek Ludzik, but he decided to stay. In 1969, Ludzik travelled to Leeside and joined Cork Celtic, who had just been taken over by Fogarty.

The goalkeeper’s first game was a derby, and he made his name by saving a Carl Davenport penalty at Flower Lodge.

Ludzik was supposed to spend a month on Leeside, but he met Cork Hibernian fan Ann O’Connell, and they married. The goalkeeper stayed and he helped Celtic win a league title in 1974.

He later featured for Cork Alberts and he played a big role in the club reaching the final of the 1977/78 League of Ireland Cup, where they lost 4-2 on penalties to Dundalk.

In 1987 Ludzik signed for Cobh Ramblers, and at one point he became caretaker manager of the club.

His biggest achievement was getting Roy Keane to sign a professional contract with the Ramblers.

The midfielder played 23 times for the Rams and in 1990, he joined Clough at Nottingham Forest.

Clough was still a disciple of Brown at that point and he used this fiery technique to welcome Keane to the City Ground.

Cork returned the favour to Tyne and Wear in August 2006, when Keane was appointed Sunderland manager.

The former Manchester United captain took over a team that was desperate for a return to the English top flight after getting relegated in 2006.

The Black Cats had just won just three games the previous season and the fans were eager for something to feel good about.

Keane’s Sunderland won 27 games and collected 88 points, a tally which won them the Championship and promotion back to the English topflight.

Their next target was safety, and Keane achieved this by three points with a 15th-place finish in the Premier League table.

A key member of that team was the late Liam Miller, the quick-footed midfielder from Ballincollig. He made 30 appearances and scored two goals during the promotion-winning 2006-07 season.

The following year he featured 24 times and got one goal.

Keane also signed David Meyler from Cork City in July 2008. The midfielder spent five seasons at Sunderland and he developed into a senior Irish international, who would make 26 appearances for his country.

The next player to travel to the north-east from Leeside was John Egan, who swapped Greenwood AFC for Sunderland in 2011. The defender started out with the club’s academy and his first taste of senior football was a loan spell at Crystal Palace in 2012.

Egan spent a number of years on loan in the lower leagues of England and in 2014 he signed a permanent deal with Gillingham.

The defender proved himself with the League One club and this earned him a transfer to Brentford in 2016.

Egan’s spell in London led to a move to Sheffield United, and he experienced two seasons in the Premier League football with the Blades between 2020 and 2021.

Even Colin Healy spent time at Sunderland in the early 2000s. The current Cork City boss was with the Black Cats from 2003-2006 and he made 20 appearances at the Stadium of Light during an injury-laden spell.