Promotion-chasing Cork City head to Longford Town

After returning to winning ways last Friday, Cork City are back in action in the First Division, but on Saturday evening rather than Friday evening as they travel to Longford.

Bishopsgate is the venue at 7.30pm, with the halfway mark in the league season almost upon us. Cork City are in a decent position at this stage, but the near double digit gap they had put together prior was wiped out by their two defeats, against Cobh Ramblers and Kerry, and sparked severe disappointment among fans.

Those two results likely contributed to the resurfacing of the ‘Usher Out’ movement at the Cross during last Friday’s game against UCD, though the banners stretched beyond the ownership of Dermot Usher.

The management and players were called into question too, with ‘management-incompetent’ and ‘players-inept’ banners displayed in the Shed End prior to kick-off. Still, no damage appeared to have been done later when Hans Mpongo fired home his hat-trick and enjoyed a moment after the game with the fans, as their 3-1 victory returned City to the summit on points.

It also reminded the rest of the First Division of the quality this City team has on paper, even if they had been struggling for conviction in recent games. Robson’s side have nine wins from 14 games, but the 24 goals scored is the one number that’s catching them. Seani Maguire and Hans Mpongo have done well up front at various stages, but rarely at the same time, while Ruairi Keating has struggled to find form and his since lost his place in the starting 11.

City have only scored more than two goals in four of their First Division games this year, which it must be said, is quite underwhelming with the quality they possess. And it’s not as though they’ve failed to create chances. They’re averaging 15.4 shots per game, compared to 11.4 from second-placed UCD or 11.9 from third-placed Wexford. Only Bray come remotely close with an average of 13.5 shots a game, and they’ve scored 22 goals.

Tomorrow’s opponents Longford are currently in seventh, two points outside the playoff spots after the boost last week’s win over Wexford provided. De Town have been wildly inconsistent so far this campaign, winning a meagre four of 15 games.

City were in action midweek as they secured victory in their Munster Senior Cup decider against Rockmount on Tuesday, the Leesiders winning 2-1 after extra-time, courtesy of a double from Mathew Murray.

As has been the case for the entire campaign, that Munster Senior Cup game was overseen by Colm Bermingham and Greg Bolger. Murray and Matthew Kiernan were the only first team constants to feature.

City responded well against UCD but the Cobh and Kerry defeats won’t be forgotten. If they don’t take their chances against Longford they will be caught out, and if they want to secure a return to Premier Division football and make that transition as smooth as possible, getting promoted needs to be achieved in a straightforward manner.

City will have their full defensive compliment again, after Rory Feely returned from injury against UCD and Charlie Lyons’ suspension will have elapsed. The head-to-head record here is another one heavily weighted toward the Leesiders, Longford’s last win over City coming in October 2015.

City have remained unbeaten in the following 16 games since, failing to win merely three of those meetings. The last time that City failed to beat Longford was at home in 2022. City’s previous two visits to Bishopsgate have yielded wins, and if they want to pick up another here, they will need to take their chances.