“Nothing to lose” – Darragh Crowley says Sligo defeat sparked Cork City revival
Cork City's Darragh Crowley celebrates scoring the late equaliser against Shamrock Rovers at Turner's Cross on Friday night. Picture: ©Inpho/Ryan Byrne
An excellent performance, if not quite the result Cork City needed. They matched Shamrock Rovers stride for stride at Turner’s Cross, absorbed punishment, hit back with their own, and yet when Daniel Grant fired the champions in front with 20 minutes left it felt like another hard night without reward.
And then came stoppage time.
And then came Darragh Crowley.
“I’d one shot before it alright, probably a similar enough strike, just a couple of yards wide,” Crowley said in his post-match interview. “But the exact same thing happened. First one was a short free, second one came to me, I opened up, saw the Rovers lads rushing at me, just took a strike.”
It was a flash of individual quality, but the equaliser only counted because of the collective effort wrapped around it. City defended their box, pressed in spells, and when Rovers retreated into a 1–0 lead, City’s persistence finally told.
“Everyone here tonight can see how they play, the keep the ball a lot, short passes, then switch it out to the other side.
“I felt we dealt with it, mostly in the first half,” Crowley explained. “The first half they had more of the ball, we defended well. They had one or two chances. Then the second half, we were a bit braver on the ball, we took the game to them really.
“They obviously scored their goal, but I think we had the better chances in the second half. Before we scored, they were trying to hang on to their 1-0 lead. I don’t think you’d see them do that often, when they’re 1-0 up they’d try and go and get two, three. Our persistence paid off.”
City’s recent run – wins over Galway and Waterford, a point in Derry, draw here with the leaders – has pulled them back from the depths. Oddly, Crowley traced the roots to their lowest night, the collapse against Sligo.
“I think in a weird way, after that Sligo game, we kind of had nothing to lose after that. It’s easy to be brave on the ball, and take the shackles off when you’re bottom of the league by so many points.
“That obviously helped us, and in the Galway game we get the win, confidence just comes from there.
“Getting the draw up in Derry, I’ve been here six or seven years, that was the first point I’ve ever gotten up in Derry,” he admitted.
“Obviously then the Bohs game, it was a tough one. But Bohs are a good team, and those games can happen. That night we had harsh words with each other in the dressing room, but after the game, the next day, after watching it back, we had chances.
“The first half we were poor, but the second half – it wasn’t really a 3-0 game. We had chances and they scored all of their chances.”
Still, with Sligo and Galway both collecting points on Friday, the gap in the table hasn’t shifted. Tonight’s trip to St Pat’s will matter even more. But the way City stood to the champions is reason enough to believe.
“I think on the balance of play, they’ll also feel they had good chances,” Nash said after the draw with Shamrock Rovers. “They’d a lot of possession, there were moments in the first half where we pressed high, we won the ball.
“We were hoping we could create something on the counterattack. We probably didn’t build our attacks enough in the first half, we did that in the second half. I thought we were much more threatening in that regard.
“In the balance of play in the second half, I think we deserved what we got.” Rovers’ opener came when the wall was finally breached, but Nash found greater satisfaction in what followed.
“What was really pleasing to me was the reaction of the players. Going behind, how we responded, the momentum in the game. The fans were really important in that stage as well. They stuck with us, and the goal was good from their perspective, but there’s no doubt about what the goal of the game was.”
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