A word on City and Bohs following Friday night's curtain-raiser for both clubs at Turners Cross.
Gavan Casey EVEN IN AN opening-day defeat, Ruairi Keating’s late reply for Cork City against Bohemians on Friday night could prove an important goal for the Leesiders in its own way.
Evan Treacy / INPHO Ruairi Higgins put in a selfless display on Friday night. Evan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO The club’s new owner, Kildare businessman Dermot Usher, gave an interview to Gavin Cooney of this parish midweek in which he stressed that City’s aim for the season was higher than to simply avoid relegation. “I am not trying to compete with Shamrock Rovers and Derry in terms of budget,” Usher told The42. “There are still two European places below that. Pat’s have a decent enough budget after that, but after that we are more than able to compete.
For well over a decade, the club has lurched from peak to trough and back again in a manner more befitting Harchester United than a real-life football club. Thankfully the club itself — through the tireless work of its support cast — managed to avoid being killed off permanently, but there would be no harm if this 2023 season was used to simply set the scene for more grandiose future episodes.
City’s core fanbase is already the club’s biggest asset. Last year, in the second tier, average attendances at Turners Cross rose by 40% — from 2,505 during City’s last Premier Division campaign to 3,517 as Healy’s men sealed promotion back to the big show. Declan Devine’s side were never going to look like a vintage Bohs outfit when, in a literal sense, they are the exact opposite: more than half of their starting 11 on Leeside were off-season recruits, and both their backline and frontline consisted of almost entirely new combinations.
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