Caulfield - Lenihan will be an "exceptional player"

MUCH has been made of the large crowd that turned out at Turner’s Cross on Friday night, as 5,322 packed into the Leeside stadium to see the opening game of the 2014 SSE Airtricity League Premier Division. The attendance coupled with the return of City legend John Caulfield meant there was plenty to be positive about off the pitch for the Rebel Army majority.

Garry Buckley almost gave Caulfield a fairy-tale start to his City managerial career on 41 minutes, but Christy Fagan popped up on 57 minutes draw the sides’ level. Cork City captain John Dunleavy received his marching orders also on 66 minutes for a second yellow card, but the Leesiders defended resolutely to hold on for a point.

If Cork City’s left back was to have a night to forget, then the opposite can be said for their right back Brian Lenihan who was one of the standout performers for the Rebel Army. The 19 year-old had the unenviable task of marking St Patrick’s Athletic’s Chris Forrester but was never overawed by the occasion or the crowd and finished the game as Extratime.ie man of the match.

When quizzed on the youngster’s starring performance, Caulfield was full of praise for Lenihan.

“Well Lenihan has so much potential. The guy has been with the club for a number of years but he’s been injured. He’s come from underage football where he’s grown to the size he is – 6 foot 2 – and I think with his growth, it affected his injuries and whatever.

“This season he started pre-season a bit slow, but came very good in the last three or four weeks. We’ve huge plans for him and he’s an exceptional kid and I think he’ll be an exceptional player for us.

“He really did well at full back. Forrester is a super guy and I didn’t think Forrester got the better of him at all. And in the second half Lenihan was trying to creep up along the line, he got up a couple of times.

“To be fair to the guy… a lot of the lads need to bring out their confidence more that they have it. In the club, because they had a disappointing season particularly last season, it affected some of the younger guys and they are inclined to play it safe at times instead of going for the jugular. We’re trying to work at training to say ‘go on, go for the jugular and go forward and take the gamble’.

“I felt that Lenihan was one of those lads and I thought that tonight he had five or six tremendous runs down the line.

Although he may have missed spells through injury, the former College Corinthians player has come back bigger and stronger than ever this season, something the City boss explained.

“It’s because he’s training every day. In fairness to him he’s a super attitude and he’s a great kid and he’s looking after himself. He’ll only get better if he holds, if he keeps his head down and works as hard as he can.

“With the coaching and mentoring and management, he’ll only get better in my eyes.”

 Another Cork City youngster to impress on the night was Garry Buckley. The 20 year old featured predominantly in defence for the Rebel Army last season, but started this season in midfield alongside Colin Healy and Gearóid Morrissey and stole the headlines from his midfield teammates with a goal-scoring performance.

Extratime.ie asked Caulfield if he saw Buckley more as a midfielder, and the City manager was clear in his vision for the former under 19 captain.

“I do really because he’s a great guy to get a goal. In pre-season he’s got quite a few goals and he’s a very versatile guy, but I think he’s one of those guys that always has a knack of popping up in the box and scoring. I think in pre-season he’s got five goals, and the goal he’s got today just in and around the box, he always seems to be in that position.

“I think Garry could have a very good season, and I’m certainly hoping he will.”

Next up for Cork City is tomorrow’s Munster derby with Limerick in the EA Sports League Cup, a game which will see Caulfield tweak his line-up as he looks to get a balance between giving players game time and progressing to the next round.

“We’ll go out with a strong team. Certainly there will be changes. I suppose it’s one of those ones where you have to be strong but at the same time there still are a couple of guys that need games.

“It’s just a bit unfortunate when you look at the team tonight. We’ve tried before pre-season to bring in strikers to eradicate the problems we had last year and you end up with two of your four out injured – Morrissey and Rafter. Rafter who had been in absolutely fantastic form in pre-season and we all know about Morrissey.

“That’s a bit disappointing, but still at the same time O’Sullivan came in and he did very well, and we have young Lehane on the bench and hopefully Rafter will be back probably within the week. He’ll probably miss Derry but he’ll be back the week after so at least that will help.

“But on Monday we will definitely make changes.”