City U19 boss’ joy with side’s victory
U19 SOCCER
Daire Walsh
FOLLOWING their 3-0 win over Cabinteely FC in the SSE Airtricity National U19 League (Southern Division) on Tuesday evening, Cork City U19 manager Stephen Birmingham was understandably pleased to see his side returning to the summit of the table.
This victory against the south Dublin outfit ensures that the Leesiders have a two-point advantage over UCD with 11 games played, but even though Bermingham feels a top-four finish is their main priority, he was delighted with his team’s reaction to a recent draw with Galway United.
“I think that puts us two points ahead again, but look, it’s still early. Top-four is the one you’re looking for. Top-four you qualify for the knockout stages, and I’ve always said that we work from game-to-game. The last game we didn’t play great against Galway, so it was good to see a reaction there,” Bermingham remarked after the game in Larkview.
The key to unlocking a compact Cabinteely defence on the night was impressive left-winger Chiedozie Ogbene – who finished the contest with two goals to his name. Ogbene featured for the Cork first-team in last weekend’s friendly clash with Fulham, and Bermingham is thrilled with the way he is reacting to the pressure that opposition teams are now placing him under.
“Yeah, they were fully aware of Chiedozie. Chiedozie played them a couple of weeks ago down in Cork, and Chiedozie had a very good game that day, so they were fully aware of him. I think we’re always going to be challenged when Chiedozie’s playing well.
“Team are going to know about him, and they’re going to make life difficult for him, and he’s reacting very, very well. He did very well at the weekend against Fulham as well in the first-team. He’s going from strength-to-strength, which is great.”
It was an emphatic triumph in the end for Cork, but despite holding a 2-0 lead for much of the second period, the visitors were caused problems by Cabinteely in the latter stages of the game.
Bermingham acknowledged that a Cabinteely goal would have made life difficult for his charges in the closing moments, and was therefore relieved when Daire O’Riordan’s long-range piledriver ultimately sealed the home team’s fate.
“Yeah, that game wasn’t over. Even at 2-0. I even said 10 minutes to go, I said if they scored it was all to play for. The lads being at home with a bit of a crowd here. Up until the third goal it was all to play for. We were lucky enough to get the third and kill them off,” Bermingham added.