Cork’s supporters just can’t bear to look away
WANDERING north on Dublin’s O’Connell Street in the direction of Parnell Square, a lone male veered from one bus stop to another, checking the details of the routes. Eventually he asked for help. ‘How do I get to Dalymount Park?’
His Cork accent was as identifiable as a Dub’s from nearby Dorset Street — although even someone as local as that might struggle to find their way to Dalyer if you didn’t tell them it was in Phibsborough.
As you would expect, the streets of the capital were quiet during the early evening of a Good Friday.
Bald and with deep bags under his eyes, excitement still beamed from the man in his late 50s/early 60s. He wanted to chat. A taxi man by profession, he explained how he’d worked the previous eight days in a row and had decided to give himself the day off. So he got on the train from Cork and travelled to Dublin alone. ‘Sure you don’t want to be missing a thing this season,’ he enthused.
Still early days, of course, but John Caulfield’s side have made a perfect start.
Last Friday, they faced Bohemians looking to create Premier Division history by winning their ninth fixture on the trot from the beginning of the campaign.
The man continued to talk. He had no lift home arranged and didn’t plan on staying any longer in the capital than was needed.Either he would snag a lift from someone else in the away end or he’d make his way back to the city centre for the Air Coach and the long journey south.
No return on the train was viable, but the 90 minutes of football in store was more than worth the uncertainty which lay ahead afterwards.
He wasn’t interested in having a drink, but when he asked if Woodstock would still be open, the thought did occur that maybe he was after something to smoke instead. Until, of course, it quickly dawned that he meant the restaurant around the corner from the ground.
‘They do lovely chicken in there,’ he remarked.
He was still giddy on the bus at the thought of what Caulfield’s men would have in store (or maybe it was the grub) and once it pulled up, he said his goodbyes before crossing the road and swinging the doors open to a restaurant full of travelling fans.
Cork are in Dublin again tonight to face St Patrick’s Athletic and are looking to make it victory No 10 in a row.
Leesiders sense something quite special is on the horizon with this team this season and no one wants to miss out on being there to witness it.