Cork City were left fuming after Waterford loss which makes beating Sligo at Turner's Cross vital

FRIDAY: SSE Airtricity League Premier Division: Cork City v Sligo Rovers, Turner’s Cross, 7.45pm

It’s difficult to talk about this game without looking back at the events of last Monday’s match against Waterford.

Although City suffered their first defeat of the season, the biggest news to come from the game was Tim Clancy’s post-match comments in which the City manager spoke about how he told referee Damien MacGraith he thought his performance was “shocking” — an action that Clancy was sent-off for — but also went onto say that MacGraith responded by describing Clancy’s team performance as “shocking”.

I’ve read a lot about who people believe is right and wrong in the situation, and in hindsight, if what Clancy said is true, then I would imagine both he and MacGraith regret their comments.

It’s easy, especially in a Munster derby, for anyone to lose their cool after suffering a late defeat. 

And it’s easy for a referee to fight back when they are being told something they don’t want to hear.

Of course, there is the argument that if Clancy can give it, it should be able to take it but there are different laws for different people in football. It’s not uncommon for a manager to criticise a referee, but not for a referee to criticise a manager or a team. Referees are meant to be the law.

Although they receive so much abuse from players, managers and fans they have to remain impartial at all times. In the same way, managers and players shouldn’t react to criticism either inside a stadium or on social media. 

IMPRESSED

Maybe MacGraith did make some questionable decisions on Monday, however, I must admit I have been impressed by the performances of Declan Toland and Aaron O’Dowd in City’s previous two games.

Referees do receive a lot of criticism for their performances but O’Dowd and Toland I thought were excellent.

They let the game flow as much as possible, and despite handing out nine yellow cards in the match between City and Galway, I felt that O’Dowd was always in control that night.

Eoghan O’Shea is the man in charge tonight and hopefully he won’t be spoken about much after the contest.

It will be a difficult match for City as they are likely to be without Greg Bolger and Seani Maguire through injury.

Both would be huge losses for City. I predict there might be a change in City’s shape from 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1.

When Bolger went off against Waterford at half-time, City lost the control of the game.

Bolger organises those around and can dictate the tempo they play at, without him, they seemed to lose their shape.

By having more bodies in the middle of the pitch, it will compensate for Bolger’s absence.

It might seem a little bit harsh on Harvey Skieters who did well when he came on for Maguire and will feel that he should be given an opportunity in the team but without Bolger, I feel it would be better to have that extra man in the middle, by having Rio Shipston, Sean Murray and probably Kitt Nelson or Aaran Healy.

A victory tonight for City and it is still a really good start to the season despite that loss to Waterford.