Heading to old club Cork City is no big deal for Caulfield

By Keith Kelly

THE 2021 First Division campaign reaches the one-third point on Friday when Galway United travel south to take on Cork City at Turners Cross (7.45pm) looking to finally click into gear after last weekend’s late-late win over Wexford.

The pre-season hype of United as serious title contenders looks like to have been a millstone around the neck of the Galway players, with barbs starting to fly from many quarters that they are not showing the benefit of being a full-time outfit.

John Caulfield rails against suggestions that he or his players are under pressure, pointing out after last Friday’s last-gasp win that his side sit in the play-off positions, and are just six points off top spot, with more than two thirds of the season to go.

“Against Bray we conceded with the last kick of the game, against Wexford we scored a fantastic goal [with the last kick]. The lads kept going and kept going and got the win we deserved,” he said, pointing to the fickle nature of sport.

While United were expected to breeze past Wexford, it is a different story this Friday with the trip to Turners Cross for a game against an improving Cork side with which Caulfield won numerous honours, both as a player and a manager.

He won the Premier Division with City as a player in 1992/93, and the FAI Cup in 1997/98 in a career spanning 15 seasons and amassing 455 appearances with the Leesiders.

Then, having swapped the jersey and togs of a player for the suit of a manager, he led City to the Premier Division title in 2017, and also won the FAI Cup in 2016 and again in 2017. Yet, despite that history, and facing his former club as a manager for the first time, he sees no extra significance in the game.

“It is just another match, there are just three points on offer every week no matter who you face, but it be an incredibly tough game, and we will have to put in a performance.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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