A season very much on track for Cork City, but questions for next year have not been answered

Twenty points clear at the top of the table with only nine games remaining in the First Division season, the aim for a return to the Premier Division is – as expected – very much on track for Cork City.

Barry Robson’s side have won 20 of 27 games which is by no means a bad return, particularly given the injury issues they faced during the middle of the campaign.

But still, there is a feeling that they should have produced more at this stage. They’ve certainly had their share of excellent performances, but given the obvious advantage the professional club have over their First Division opponents, those performances haven’t occurred often enough.

Far too often in games City have been slow to get going, dragging themselves over the line as the opposition tire late in the game. Of the 57 goals the Leesiders have scored this season, 39 have come in the second half of games. 27 of those goals have been in the final half an hour.

It’s been a clear advantage, and one that certainly papers over the cracks, because it’s not one they’ll enjoy next season against full-time opposition.

Their last outing against Kerry proved to be a prime example, with a trio of late goals turning the game in their favour after their Munster opponents led prior, something which Robson acknowledged.

“We probably could have done better first half,” Robson said last week. “I think we still had a couple of great chances. “We changed it in the second half. And then I just think the fitness and the speed of the team takes over in the second half.

“And it's happened a lot for us this season. I was calm at halftime, I knew that the second half was going to be a lot different.

“You’ve got to give the boys credit. And I thought the way we moved it, the speed, the forward running, the passing forward. I loved watching us in the second half.” 

At this stage in the campaign, it would be near impossible for City not to finish the job and get over the line, at least not without a desperate injury crisis, which is what Robson is keen to avoid.

“I'm going to give the boys a few days' break. We'll be in at the start of the week. But I think, always as a manager, when you get to this stage, rest is more important than training. You start over-training and you start getting injuries. It's not so much time for the training pitch.” 

And while the Rebel Army almost certainly have enough to see this season out, the lack of summer incomings to increase the size of the squad is one that badly needs to be addressed in the winter window.

Chrisnovic N’Sa was the only signing and has not yet featured bar the mid-season friendly defeat to Brian Barry Murphy’s Cardiff outfit. He hasn’t yet made a squad and City’s benches across the last three games have remained noticeably light, withNiall O’Keeffe, Harry Nevin, Seani Maguire, David Odumosu and Matthew Murray the only senior players on the subs list against Kerry.

Injuries to any one of the starting players will put them under serious pressure, and the squad looks far from being in a position good enough to preserve their Premier Division status as is.

Of course there will most certainly be additions in the off season, but whether they will prove to be sufficient – or Cork City suffer the same fate as they have in their previous two top flight seasons ¬– remains to be seen. And survival next season is paramount.

But while there are unanswered questions that Robson will have to address, there have been a number of positives across the year.

Cillian Murphy’s breakthrough is the obvious one, and the attacking output from Murphy, Ruairí Keating, Maguire and Hans Mpongo has been encouraging. But it’s been Conor Drinan and Darragh Crowley who have shone brightest over the past few months, the latter again impressing against Kerry with a man of the match display.

“He's outstanding every week,” Robson said of Crowley. “If you sit and watch us as a counter-pressure team, at times, he's absolutely brilliant at it. And a lot of people will be watching where the ball is all the time.

“But if you watch games back, you watch where he is on the pitch. He just picks up everything. But do you know what? It was a brilliant performance in the second half.” 

The Leesiders are games away from winning the title, and the sooner they can achieve it, the better and smoother their preparations for 2027 will be. The earliest they can clinch the title will be against Bray on September 4.