CRITICS ANNOY ME
Win or lose, Caulfield says Cork have had a successful season
FROM the technical area in Dalymount Park, John Caulfield could see the buoyant Bohs die-hards in the Jodi Stand, their anticipation evident as the minutes ebbed away in the FAI Cup semi-final.
Cork City’s season, which withered on a fruitless Champions League vine, was about to end before September’s final shadow. Only, it didn’t. A contentious penalty call, and an ice-cool conversion from Kieran Sadlier, threw City a lifeline which they seized.
Imagine if that break hadn’t gone their way and they were left to reflect on finishing second in the League and getting to the last four in the FAI Cup. Would that have been good enough for Caulfield and those who judge City?
While some fans would have pointed fingers, those with longer memories, and more reasoned minds, would have held fire.
For there was a time, not all that long ago, when City fans would have been celebrating from the rooftops for such a season’s CV.
Caulfield was part of a very fine City team which finished second, third, first and fourth in the League in consecutive seasons from 1991 until 1994, and which lost two FAI Cup finals (1989 and 1992).
In six straight seasons of highcalibre consistency, City won one major trophy, yet no one ever questioned their commitment, or stomach for the fight.
Long, Murphy, Barry, Freyne, Daly, Morley and Caulfield. They were warriors who lived and fought for the green and white jersey.
It’s why Caulfield finds it tiresome at those sniping from the long grass about City’s collective efforts in 2018.
And it’s also why he didn’t bite this week when it was put to him that Sunday’s FAI Cup final against Dundalk is a game would define City’s season.
‘It depends on what you mean by defining your season. There are only two trophies realistically. Is it winning a trophy every year? Do you have to do that?’ he asked.
‘It depends on how you look at it. We have been phenomenally successfully and qualified for Europe, for the fifth year in a row, but there are a small few who say this, this and this should happen.’ ‘We’re a fans’ owned club and from where we’ve come from, we’ve been boxing way ahead of ourselves for a number of years.’ ‘We were under huge pressure to win the cup two years ago when Seanie [Maguire] got the winner and we were under huge pressure last year to win a double. Would we like to win the cup again? Absolutely but we may not. Even so, we’ll still have had a fantastic season.’
From 1984, when City entered the League until 2014, Caulfield’s first full season as manager, the club reached the FAI Cup final five times. Getting to a final once in six years is not a bad average for any club, but under Caulfield the number of finals has jumped to 10, including four in a row.
As someone who soldiered in the trenches for City for 15 years, Caulfield is aware of the rarefied air his players are inhabiting.
‘It’s a privileged time in their career with four finals in a row and you can’t take that for granted — you have to enjoy it.’
Among some neutrals there is a gnawing sense that they’d have preferred Bohemians got to the final, that Cork v Dundalk has become too familiar.
But that is to ignore the levels these two clubs have reached. They are the best on the island by a mile and thanks to the quirks of an open draw, have managed to avoid each other in the earlier rounds. As champions, City put up a heroic defence of their title until a speed wobble at the end of August which Dundalk seized on.
‘It would be a very boring league if it wasn’t for us,’ observed City striker Karl Sheppard. ‘Dundalk would probably have five titles in a row, four cups in a row.
‘I find it funny when people say it’s a Cork-Dundalk final again. It’s the two best teams going at it every year and it’s no surprise we’re the two teams getting to the cup final.
‘If it was Madrid-Barca getting to the final every year in Spain, I don’t think people would be complaining. I think it’s a very Irish thing to complain about the two best teams getting to the final.
‘If you had City-Liverpool, I think people would be buzzing if they got to an FA Cup final, whereas here, it’s the opposite.’
If City and Dundalk avoid each other in the 2019 FAI Cup, who is good enough to stop them meeting in 12 months’ time?
No one got close to Dundalk on their run to the Aviva while Bohs blinked when they had City in their sights.
‘We felt people wanted us to lose the semi-final, or at least were dis-
appointed when we won it,’ noted Sheppard. ‘We’re always happy to keep these things in the back of our mind and use them as motivation.’
No, a City win won’t define their season. Their 71 goals and a Europa League return with five games to go, is what defined it.
But a win on Sunday would create history as the first Cork team to win the FAI Cup three times in a row and only the second club after Shamrock Rovers to do so.
How Bohs, and all those playing catch-up, must envy them.