Evergreen Mulcahy eyeing another upset at Oriel Park
WHEN Cork City manager John Caulfield needed to bolster his defence for the title run-in last season’s transfer window he turned to the oldest player in the League of Ireland - Dave Mulcahy.
The Kilkenny native went on to become almost an ever-present as the Leesiders pushed Dundalk all the way on their way to a runner-up finish - although he was cup-tied and couldn’t play in the Aviva Stadium triumph over the Lilywhites..
A year later Mulcahy is pushing 40 and the knees are creaking that little bit more, but he is now a Drogheda United player and is the chief driving force behind the team’s hugely ambitious ‘double’ bid - to go all the way in the FAI Cup and avoid relegation.
Pete Mahon rated the veteran defender highly enough to award him the captaincy when he signed for the Boynesiders four weeks ago and Mulcahy’s arrival has coincided with an upturn in fortunes.
However, by far the biggest test of his Drogheda career will come this Friday when he dons the armband once more for the FAI Cup quarter-final away to Dundalk.
A place in the last four of the competition is a huge carrot in itself, of course, but if the Drogs could cause an upset it might also give their league survival credentials a wee boost.
Mulcahy also has personal reasons for wanting his team’s cup odyssey to continue all the way to the Aviva Stadium. He is in the twilight of a 20-year League of Ireland career that somehow has not yielded a single winner’s medal in the major competitions despite spells with Cork, Bohemians and St Pat’s amongst others.
‘I’ve played in two Cup finals and one Setanta and lost all three, which is unfortunate,’ he responded with more than a tinge of regret.
‘They are really tough to win and you always need a bit of luck along the way.
‘Drogheda are playing a really top team, in Dundalk, but we have nothing to lose and there’s no pressure on us. We were unlucky not to take points off Bray [in our last league outing] and we are capable of beating the top teams.’
The management and squad have heaped praise on Mulcahy for the impact he’s made already - in matches, on the training ground and in the dressing-room - and the much-travelled 39-year-old agrees that his role extends far beyond trying to help improve the team’s goals-against ratio.
‘I do feel it’s part of my job to make the younger lads believe they can do it [beat Dundalk], absolutely. I will be saying to them that I went up there with Bohemians a couple of years ago in a similar position.
‘We were about seventh in the table and Dundalk hadn’t been beaten in 18 months, and we went up there and beat them 2-1 [Mulcahy scored the winning goal], and we did it by getting into their faces and not letting them play their brand of football.
‘We’ll give them respect, but not too much once the game starts because it’s 11 v 11 and whether you have inferiority complexes or not, anything can happen.
‘I’ve read about the 2013 game [semi-final] when Dundalk had two sent off and these things can happen.
‘They’re not the team they were 12 months ago. I played them earlier in the year in the EA Sports Cup for Waterford and they played eight of their first team and for 70 minutes we nullified them.
‘It’s whether we can keep our concentration in those last 20 minutes because they seem to score a lot of goals in the last 20 with their greater fitness.
‘It’s about the only derby I haven’t played in and I’m really looking forward to it.’
If the result does go against Drogheda, there’s a danger that the season could be over very quickly, but Mulcahy insisted that his teammates haven’t given up on staging the great escape.
‘I would be very positive minded and I wouldn’t have signed for Drogheda if I didn’t think we could stay up,’ he said. ‘It’s all about getting a couple of results going into the last few games and we’re just taking it one game at a time.
‘The team is very positive for one that’s at the foot of the table. I’ve been in this position before and it’s all doom and gloom, but it’s not like that at this club. They seem to be playing a really good brand of football and it’s really encouraging.’
As to whether Mulcahy will be in the League of Ireland next season, with Drogheda or anyone else, he has a stock answer - one he’s been giving since the turn of the decade.
‘Like every year it’s about getting to the end of the season injury-free as much as possible and then seeing how my own pre-season goes.
‘Early in the season I made the wrong choice [Waterford], but I’m enjoying my football again. I’ve nearly 18 seasons under my belt and don’t know anything else. I’m based in Kilkenny and have my own business which means I’m quite flexible and I train in Dublin one hour 40 minutes away.
‘There’s good banter in the squad. There was a shout about me having played with Richie Purdy’s father, so you can imagine the reaction to that.
‘The secret is that I do a lot more prep work to keep the body supple. You have to do it to get ready for training.
‘The easy thing would be to go back local again, but I’m not ready to go all the way back down yet.’