It’s a battle of the two City’s in a Monday Night Football clash at Turners Cross tomorrow night as Cork City, on a 4-game winning streak, face Derry City.
The Candystripes who are in the midst of a shocking run, only one win in seven league games, are desperate for points. During that run Derry have slipped alarmingly out of the title race, now sitting a whopping 19 points adrift of leaders Dundalk.
It’s going to be a difficult task for Derry to get anything from their trip to Cork, but Shiels at least has the luxury, if you could call it that, of bringing back striker Rory Patterson following suspension.
He said, “You could see what Rory's presence gives us when he wasn't there on Friday night. He has a fantastic work-rate and we missed that against Sligo" said Shiels.
Speaking about adding players to his squad Shiels said, “We have lost players in the first half of the season but obviously we weren't able to add any replacements until July. We are very close to bringing in three players who will really boost the squad but I don't want to start naming people because that has worked against us in the past."
However, Shiels did confirm later that his son Dean, who won the title with Dundalk during a six-month spell at Oriel Park in 2016, will be joining the club in July. It’s a badly needed addition to the squad after the departures of Ronan Curtis, Dapo Kayode, Armin Aganovic, John Coffie, David Hopkirk along with others recently.
Shiels spoke on the addition of his son, “Dean will sign a one-and-half year deal with us over the next week or so. He will give us good options for a busy second half of the season and will provide that bit of experience we're lacking."
He continued, “I can assure supporters that the club is working really hard to bring in what we need. There will be more positive news to bring in the coming weeks, I'm fairly certain of that.”
Shiels also called on the clubs supporters to stick with the team, which they’ve done all season long, “I hope our supporters will remember that this is pretty much the same team that went 10 matches unbeaten just a few weeks ago. There are a few more tired limbs at the minute but we'll get through that. There's a break coming up and we'll be using every minute of it both for recuperation and to try to get those deals over the line."
"I would ask our supporters to stick with us. They were such a big help during that good run and we'll be doing everything we can to get that positive energy back again."
For Cork City, they’re in great form, after a fourth successive win on Friday night. They can go top of the Premier Division table with a win, leap-frogging Dundalk, and Manager John Caulfield knows the incentives to win are huge for his side, “We are at home, we are hoping for another big crowd and it is a real opportunity for us to go back top again, so there are lots of incentives. Derry are dark horses, they have tremendous players. Their form in the last few weeks has been a bit iffy, but we played them in the Brandywell five weeks ago and had a very close match which ended 0-0. They create lots of chances, so we must make sure that we give a top performance. I always say, if we do that, then we have a chance of taking the points.”
City will have to do without the suspended Conor McCormack after he picked up five yellow cards. They also go into the game with question marks over Gearóid Morrissey, Alan Bennett and Steven Beattie, all of whom will be assessed ahead of kick-off.
Caulfield’s side have a great record at Turners Cross and he wants that to continue, “I keep saying that we need to make sure we are up there going into the break. This is another opportunity for us to get three points; we are at home and we have a good home record. Our home form has been so good this season, so we need to try and take advantage of that.”
“Since the start of the season, we have asked the fans to buy in and support this team from the start. They have done that, and it has been phenomenal. It is a tough weekend, but the crowd have bought in, so we are hoping for another big crowd and hoping we can give a performance to match.”
Photo Credit: JPJPhotography
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