City make history
Cork city go nine points clear at top of Premier with win over Bohemians
Soccer
Daire Walsh
CORK CITY attacker Karl Sheppard was happy to release some of the scoring burden from Seanie Maguire at Dalymount Park last night, when his 40th-minute wonder goal helped the Leesiders to claim a 2-0 triumph over Bohemians.
City’s win was an historic one for the club as this was the first time any City side had won nine in a row at the start of a season and they are now nine points clear at the top of the table.
They are also now favourites to take the title from last year’s winners Dundalk, who slipped up again last night, losing 3-1 to Bray Wanderers.
Sheppard (a league winner with Shamrock Rovers in 2011) believes Maguire has made an exceptional start to the current campaign, but with opposition defenders focusing so intensely on the 22-year-old, he feels opportunities – like his outstanding long-range volley in the Phisborough venue have been falling into his path.
“I think what I said in an article today, Seanie is getting all the plaudits, and he deserves it. He’s been brilliant. You see another assist from him today. When he’s not scoring, he’s setting them up,” Sheppard stated.
“I think maybe some defenders are just watching Seanie, and thankfully it lets me or Bucks [Garry Buckley], Gearoid [Morrissey] or whoever to slip in and get a goal.
“Long may it continue. I had one the exact same out in BK Häcken [in the Europa League qualifiers last July] and I’m not messing, it couldn’t have gone further out of the stadium!
‘’That was going through my mind at the time. Just make a good contact with it, and thankfully it went in.”
Sheppard’s goal arrived during a spell that included penalty shouts at either end of the pitch – both of which were turned down by referee Ben Connolly.
This came in the wake of comments by Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny about Cork being awarded 13 spot-kicks in 2017 (in comparison to none for the Louth men), and Sheppard felt this may have been on the official’s mind when he opted not to award Cork a brace of penalties.
“I was just happy it went in at the time. I think maybe the ref could have been listening to some things during the week.
“We thought we had two stonewall penalties tonight, but look, they weren’t to be. We were just thankful that we got the win tonight.”
Following Dundalk’s defeat to Bray Wanderers on the same evening, Cork’s lead at the summit of the top-flight has extended to nine points.
Sheppard acknowledged that the City squad are confident in their own abilities, but is wary of putting too much stock into their league position this early in the season.
“We believe in our ability. To be honest, we don’t really care how many points we are clear now.
“We just want to concentrate on the next game.
“The second we start looking at the table this early in the season is when you start to slip up, so to be honest, we couldn’t really care,” Sheppard said.