Cork City boss Neale Fenn: 'There's players that I brought to Longford that I think are good enough to play with Cork'

Andrew Dempsey reports from Tallaght Stadium

Cork City boss Neale Fenn admits that he would be interested in taking some of his previous players at Longford Town to Turners Cross during the off-season.

Fenn saw his side falter to a 3-0 defeat away to Shamrock Rovers on Friday evening, with the former Cork player left with plenty to do to revitalise his side ahead of next season.

“There’s players that I brought to Longford that I certainly think are good enough to play here with Cork,” the 42-year-old told extratime.ie.  

“I wouldn’t rule it out, I wouldn’t say I’m not considering a few of them because I’d be lying but it’s got to be right.

“It needs to be suitable for them and us – they’ve all got jobs so it’s not as easy as it sounds.”

The former Longford manager added; “In any group or squad you go into, there’s always going to be players you don’t think will be able to do things you want them to do.

“I think that’s certainly the case here, but that’s in every squad when a new manager will come in and move a few players on, and that was the case here and anywhere else really.”

With Cork falling to their 17^th defeat of the season, and the seventh of the Fenn regime – the new City boss noted that he has felt a rise in standard from his time with Longford in the First Division.

“In terms of the calibre of player obviously it’s higher, you can see that tonight. There’s internationals on the pitch so obviously the standard is higher.

“In terms of the enjoyment I get out of it, and the job satisfaction of it, it’s better than being in the First Division as a part-time manager.”

He soon added; “It was always going to be difficult. The club were going in a different direction rebuilding and they wanted me to come in and start that process.

“That’s what we were doing, and I thought we were unlucky with a few results – I’d put that down to a lack of confidence because when you’re losing it can become a bit of a habit.

“But we got a couple of good results and came into tonight’s game with a bit of confidence to come up here and give them a better game than we did. I thought we made it easy for them.

“It was always going to be difficult against a very good team for us. we had four of our most experienced players out – Griffin, McCormack, Morrissey, Sheppard – so it was always going to be difficult and it proved to be that.  

“It was a couple of easy goals and once you give them that you’re never going to get back.”