CORK CITY v BOHEMIANS
Friday April 25, SSE Airtricity League, Turner’s Cross, 7.45pm
Playing an in-form Cork City in front of a hostile crowd of 5,000 should hold no fear for Bohemians, according to manager Owen Heary, writes BRIAN TRENCH.
“This should be what a player lives for. You might go one place where there’s a crowd of a couple of hundred and you score three goals, or you can go to Cork where there’s a huge crowd roaring at you.
“When I was with Shels, I knew I was in for a tough time coming to Dalymount. But, as a player, that’s what you want.”
Addressing players’ fears is a key part of Heary’s current efforts to get the best out of his squad. “The players are taking heart from not being far from getting something from the best teams,” he said. “But we have to get rid of the fear factor, or going out to play worrying about what happens if…”
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Heary wants his players to approach the Cork game in a positive frame of mind. “I know we have the players to get a result. They just have to believe it. I think they do, but we just have to get the mental approach fine-tuned.”
At this stage in the season Heary expected to be better-placed in the league. “I’m disappointed that we haven’t got more points on the board. I can live with a team outplaying you, as Pats did against us. But against Limerick and Sligo we defended really well, we created the better chances, and then we go and concede a goal off a corner. We were well in those games, getting on top, and then we killed ourselves on a set-piece.
“The players have to take responsibility for tuning-out for a second and that’s something that we’re working on with them. The disappointing part is that we haven’t reacted as we should to someone making a mistake.”
Bohemians have to plan without striker Dinny Corcoran (knee ligament injury), but Jason Byrne, sat out 80 mimnutes of Monday’s match against Sligo following a strenuous 90 minutes against St Patrick’s Athletic three days earlier, is likely to start in the Cork game. Corcoran may make it back for next weeks’ home league game against Derry City.
Steven Beattie, who has proven his versatility with appearances on the wing, up-front and, most recently, shuffled to right-back, may be chosen in that position again, with Derek Pender switching to left back, where Bohemians have too often proven vulnerable.
Jack Memery (knee) has returned to light training but is not yet fit for possible selection, while Anto Murphy (hamstring) may be back training next week.
Heary expects to make several changes for Monday’s Leinster Senior Cup match in Tallaght against Shamrock Rovers. Jake Hyland and Lee Whelan, promoted from the under-19s, can expect to play and goal-keeper Dean Delany will return to start.
Another two-game weekend at the start of May will further stretch the Bohemian squad but Heary insists he would prefer to be playing in three competitions in parallel than to be already eliminated from the knock-out tournaments. “You want to be playing every game possible,” he said.