Third time lucky for Cork City?

The President’s Cup is a fixture that seeks to replicate the new-season-sparkle that once used to adorn England’s Charity Shield. But, in reality, the meeting of the League and Cup champions on the weekend preceding the season proper is a game that excites only the participants, and with this year’s encounter taking place in Cork the opportunity for casual fans to wander along for a look-see was reduced. Which was a pity, because the clash between Cork City and Dundalk immediately addressed the key question of LOI 2016; can the Leesiders finally overthrow Dundalk after two years of nearly-almost-dammit-that was close?

A 2-0 win for the challengers raised expectations that, this time around, they can, and great credit must go to John Caulfield that, after two years of not being quite good enough, the club have maintained their momentum into a third. Two seasons of being held at arm’s length can have a morale sapping effect on a football team but there is no hint of disillusionment within the Rebel camp. Additions such as Greg Bolger, Eoghan O’Connell, and the returned Gearoid Morrissey have fuelled genuine optimism that it might be third time lucky for a side that last won the title in 2005. But the biggest boost to City’s hopes of another league crown is the departure from Oriel Park of the extraordinary Richie Towell.

Like him or loathe him, Towell was something of a freak. This time last year the question surrounding Dundalk’s preparations was whether or not they had sufficiently replaced the goal power of Pat Hoban, who had moved to Oxford United. Hoban scored 20 league goals as the Lilywhites stormed to the 2014 title but Stephen Kenny signed precisely zero strikers over the winter, leaving David McMillan to apparently shoulder the burden of matching Hoban’s strike rate. McMillan chipped in with an admirable 12 league goals last year, but Towell eclipsed that contribution with an astonishing 25... from midfield. He also banged in four cup goals including the winner in the FAI Cup triumph that secured the double for Kenny’s side.

But Towell is no more, now looking for a way in to Brighton & Hove Albion’s starting XI, and Dundalk must again hope that someone will step forward from the ranks to make a season defining impression. Ciaran Kilduff perhaps? Cork City, ironically, know all about Kilduff’s potential having scored 11 times from 14 starts during a loan spell at the club in the latter half of 2013. Last year Kilduff scored three times for St Pats while operating as second choice to Christy Fagan, and then four times for Dundalk after a summer move to Oriel that saw him make just four starts.

Or should Dundalk fans be looking further back, towards another midfield net botherer? The arrival of Robbie Benson from UCD was not a signing that made many headlines but aficionados will know that he is a footballer of rare quality, albeit injury has interfered with recent progress. He is the kind of player that can make you drop your chips. And perhaps young Georgie Poynton is ready to become a player of influence. Centre back Brian Gartland will always score from set pieces and Daryl Horgan continues to impress... but this all sounds a tad hollow in addressing the key point; Towell is irreplaceable.

The attempt to do so must be a communal effort, with varying strands of Towell’s absence being taken up by different players. Perhaps the sum total of those contributions may come close to filling the void... perhaps not. Dundalk are, and will continue to be, a fine team and they will set the bar for the coming season. But down on Leeside there is a muttering conviction that without the jewell in the crown Kenny’s men are now vulnerable. Gavan Holohan and Sean Maguire made the opening gestures in City’s haka, scoring the goals that punctured the Lilywhite’s aura of invincibility last Saturday. And the fact that it was these two young turks who struck the decisive blows is not insignificant.

Last season Cork City, having assembled a strong core squad, adorned it with garlands of grand experience; Alan Bennett, Liam Miller, Liam Kearney and John O’Flynn all joined a squad that already contained the elder qualities of Dan Murray and Colin Healy. It became a squad that owed a little bit too much to nostalgia. This year Murray, Miller, O’Flynn and Kearney have all gone and in the empty spaces left by their departures we can expect to see the likes of Holohan and Maguire begin to flourish. The experience that City now boast has the added advantage of being still flushed with youth; Kavanagh, Dunleavy, Bolger, Beattie, Buckley, Morrissey... all players that now have the potential to take the initiative; to make things happen. Whether they will succeed in doing so remains to be seen but the war drums are sounding down south. It should be some contest.