‘Cork are run better than some UK clubs’
CUMMINS HAPPY TO BE HOME WITH NEW GOALS
‘Professional set-up is vital to playing as long as I can’
THERE are two women in Graham Cummins’ life, the woman who reared him and the one he married, but only one was going to be the beneficiary after the Cork City striker netted a hat-trick last month.
‘My wife has always said to me that I need to get her a match ball, so it was good to pick it up a after the Sligo game,’ Cummins, the SSE Airtricity League/ Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland player of the month for February, admitted.
The 30-year-old’s last hat-trick came against Finn Harps in the First Division during his first spell at Turner’s Cross seven years ago, and Cummins’ wife has had her eye on the spoils ever since, especially as his mother was so careless first time around.
‘Well, I can get her flowers down in Tesco or Dunnes Stores, but I can’t just walk into a shop and get a hat-trick ball for her,’ he laughed.
‘At the moment I’m still thinking of somewhere to put it. My mam is after losing my other match ball, I don’t know what happened to that. I’ll think of somewhere to put it where I can get a good view of it.
‘My wife seemed to want it more than me, so I made sure I got it. I don’t think the club will be too happy though because it’s costing them money. It’s a good cause though.’
John Caulfield will have no problem about that if the man who was brought back to Leeside from St Johnstone to fill the void left by Seani Maguire can continue his good form.
Cummins netted four times in two games last month but also had to serve a suspension after getting a red card against St Patrick’s Athletic for a stray elbow on the opening night of the season.
‘I didn’t know exactly what I was coming back to in terms of the club, because obviously it has changed so much in six years,’ he continued. ‘It actually shocked me how more advanced the club was than I thought it would be.
‘I knew they had upped their game a lot but it was far more impressive than I’d expected. I am really enthusiastic going into work every day. You’re not complaining about stuff.
‘I think Cork is more professional than many clubs I played with when I was in the UK — and that’s no disrespect to any of those clubs,’ the former Preston, Rochdale and Exeter City man admitted.
‘I just think Cork said, “This is the way things need to be run”. Every detail is looked after. The older you get, the more professional you need things to be.
‘You need everything to be right so your body can cope with the demands of the game. That’s vital to me because I want to keep playing as long as I can. It’s just really good to be home.’
Caulfield has been the driving force of this progression and while they suffered defeat to Dundalk last week, Cork bounced back with a home win over Shamrock Rovers on Monday ahead of tonight’s Munster derby away to Limerick.
‘When he came in, the club was a mid-table team. He just upped that level straight away. I think John has admitted himself, he got the club to a certain level and he needed it to advance again if they wanted to win leagues,’ Cummins explained.
‘He needed more professionalism again brought into the club to win trophies and he certainly got that.
‘He always placed high demands on not just the players but on the club itself to provide the best for the players, and that’s what you want.
‘You want your manager to be saying, “I need the best for the players”. After the Dundalk game, we stayed up the night after so we’d be ready for Shamrock Rovers. The lads weren’t travelling back down the road again in the middle of the night.
‘It’s little things like that. He knows himself. I know he’s been retired a little while, but he knows you need certain things. He listens to lads as well and asks their opinion of what they need. The club trust him as well.
‘There is a great relationship there. As long as there is success, the club will do everything possible to help him. ‘It’s the same for me, I look at him and say, “He’s going to bring me success in my career”.’ And maybe another hat-trick ball or two.