Sadlier wants City to relax and ‘just get the job done’
CORK CITY V DUNDALK
It’s a slogan synonymous with Kieran Sadlier’s home town of London and it sums up the Republic of Ireland U21 international’s attitude as Cork City look to finally relieve Dundalk of their SSE Airtricity League title at Turner’s Cross tonight.
The Leeside club have been ‘on the brink’ of doing just that for more than three weeks, but successive losses to Shamrock Rovers and, on Friday night, Limerick so far in September have kept the champagne sitting on ice longer than anticipated.
A win against Stephen Kenny’s side this evening would stretch the gap between the two rivals to 14 points with just four games to play and confirm Cork’s capture of a first Premier Division title since 2005 and just the third in the club’s history.
“We’re just touching distance away but we have to just relax,” said the highly rated summer capture from Sligo Rovers, “get ourselves back together and just get the job done.”
City have lost four of their last six league games and Sadlier, when asked, wasn’t the first to point to the loss to Preston North End of Sean Maguire and Kevin O’Connor.
Injuries have played a part, too. Neither Alan Bennett nor Garry Buckley were fit enough to start against Limerick at Markets Field. John Dunleavy’s long-term absence hasn’t been helpful either.
Still, Sadlier claims the murmurs over the alarming dip in form haven’t permeated the camp.
They could, and maybe should, have seen to Limerick. Sucker-punched by two early goals, the first of them a gift thanks to a defensive mix-up, Sadlier replied swiftly with a brilliant header for John Caulfield’s men, who laid siege to the home goal after the break but without the reward their efforts deserved.
“The ball wouldn’t go into the net. We had chances. We should have done better. Myself, firstly, I had a few openings, especially a header at the end. It is frustrating and disappointing but there are positives to take from it as well.
“I suppose we have the gift of having a good lead over Dundalk but we have made it hard for ourselves going into (tonight). But we are confident, still. We are confident going into every game, confident we will get the three points.”
The upside in all this is the opportunity to claim the title in front of a packed Turner’s Cross at the expense of Dundalk and, with Limerick making the trip to Cork for the FAI Cup semi-final on Friday, it could make for one of the club’s most rewarding weeks ever.
Same for Sadlier.
The 23-year old rekindled his career with the move from England to Sligo Rovers and, though it took time to find his groove at Cork, he gave a display on the left-wing against Limerick that showed just why both City and Dundalk were eager for his services.
“I’ve said before, I want to come here and want to win things. I’m young and ambitious and (want to) see how far I can go. It took me time to settle in, as I thought it would do, but I am finding form, scoring goals. It is a fantastic city and football club that is definitely going places.”
