Graham Cummins on what we can expect from Cork City's Premier Division return

IT’S difficult to judge what would be success for Cork City this season.

For most clubs, who have just spent the past two years in the First Division, success would be still being a Premier Division side at the end of the campaign.

However, City aren’t most clubs. It is one of the biggest in the country. 

That has been proven over the last two years with the attendances at Turner’s Cross despite the club competing in the lower tier.

Will City supporters be happy with their side winning the odd game and managing to avoid survival? Perhaps at the beginning they will be accepting that they are competing at a better level and the club should be happy just to be in the Premier Division again, but that tolerance will wear off eventually and fans will want to see their team trying to compete for European places.

For me, I do believe that realistic aims for the campaign would be to stay in the division.

They have lost arguably their player of the year from last season in David Harrington, and haven’t brought enough experienced players into the club.

I think Colin Healy would have liked to have added players with more experience playing in the league but was restricted because of his budget. His budget is healthier with Dermot Usher now in control of the club, but that doesn’t mean he can attract the players he wants to the club. 

Experienced players located in other areas of the country are going to demand a hefty wage to relocate. They won’t want to live in a shared house with other players like younger players would or players on loan from the UK. They will want accommodation and travel expenses in their contract and those demands are probably too rich for City at the moment.

City have brought in several new faces to the club. It was clear from the end of last season that a striker was needed if City were going to be competitive in the Premier Division.

PACE

Healy has brought in two new faces in that position with Ethon Varian and Tunde Owolabi joining the club. Owolabi in many peoples’ opinion was a disappointment at St Pat’s last season, scoring just five goals. I do believe that he is a shrewd signing for City.

He is a player with a lot of pace and does know how to score goals despite his recent record. It will suit him more playing with City than it did with Pat’s.

The Dublin side were patient in their play last season and were reluctant to put the ball in behind defences to give Owolabi an opportunity to show his pace. I don’t see City dominating possession like Pat’s did in games, and it will suit him playing for a side that will be a little more direct and will play on the counter-attack.

Varian will be an interesting signing. Again, he is a player that’s goal record isn’t something to boast about, but he is playing for his local team and will be desperate to impress.

He managed to score two goals in his time with Bohemians but Bohs aren’t his club, City are. It will mean more to him playing at Turner’s Cross, winning games and scoring goals for City than it would for any other club.

Fans are going to want him to succeed and will be more patient with him because he is one of their own, whereas at Bohs that was not the case. I’m not saying that he wasn’t giving everything at Bohs, but he will be much happier being at home and playing for the club he supported growing up. It will make him play better because he will have pride in the jersey every time he wears it.

It will be interesting to see whether or not City stay with the 3-5-2 formation.

It’s no secret that Healy would favour a 4-3-3 but the players he has at his disposal does suggest that the latter formation will be more suited.

It’s important that City get off to a good start to get the fans onside and give the players belief that they are good enough to be in the top division. A slow start; and all of a sudden every fixture looks a difficult one and the players cannot see where they are going to win games.

It’s going to be a challenging season for the club and success would be staying in the division.