MAY THE FORAS BE WITH YOU

Pat Dolan wrote in my book Just Follow The Floodlights "It should be madatory to spend two years managing in Cork!" - that's how much the big man loved it. Dolan had come from the pressure-cooker
atmosphere of Richmond Park to a Cork City side without a trophy in seven odd years and lead them
back into Europe and the quarter-finals of the Intertoto Cup , the first and so far only time an Irish side has reached that stage in European competition.
You may laugh,......but it's a fact!
Dolan followed in the footsteps of Tambling, Allen, O'Mahony, O'Keefe, Richardson, Hindmarch, Barry, Murphy (Colin), Mountfield, and Liam Murphy as manager of Cork City Football Club...a side formed on
July 1st 1984.
Just a year previous the Rebel County had been let without a football team in the city with Cork in the title for the first time since 1925. Just previous to that Cork United , a side that had changed from Cork Alberts (and Cork Albert and Albert Rovers before that!) had gone bankrupt and not since Fordson's trotted out at Ballinlough Road just a few short years after "Dev" sold Michael Collins down the road, had the city no football to watch.
Fast forward 27 years from their formation and City are still big business - irrespective of what division they play in. "You'll never have to convince the Cork public to come out and support Cork City Football Club" - smiles Dolan,  which of course is true. Even through the trails and tribulations that has seem to befell almost every club from the city, the public will turn out for their club.
That's not to put a rose-tinted slant on everything. After the massive success of Cork United (5 titles in 6 years during the 40's) and Hibernians and Celtic's league & cup success in the early seventies, there had been a dramatic drop in attendances soon after.
When Dundalk clinched the 1978/79 League Championship they did it against a Cork Celtic side with less
than 110 people in attendance at Flower Lodge. It was a troubled time for Cork football. A 1978 League Cup Final appearance under Cork Alberts would be the last trophy contested until a Kieran Myers goal on
October 21st (would you believe the 15th anniversary will be the night of the book launch in Cork!) under Noel O'Mahoney gave City the League Cup against Shamrock Rovers.
Since then the club has enjoyed League of Ireland Championships (1992/93 and 2005) FAI Cup triumphs (1998, 2007) three League Cups and about 487 Munster Cups!
My visit this year was a pleasant 3-0 win against Mervue United and a Cork City side looking primed for a return to the Premier Division where they belong.
They were kind. They were courteous....they tried to sell me a Cork City scarf.
I'm from Waterford..it was never going to happen.
We had some banter - they told me of a man called Miah, I told them of Flower Lodge at 2-0 down!
They came back with Cork United beating the Blues to the double in '41 - I reminded them who ruined
Cork Foras Co-op party in their first game!
When we couldn't agree we paused , and found a common ground.
DeVelera had the Big Man shot!
They say there's two people you never speak ill of in the Rebel County.
Mr Collins is one.
I think the other one was a football player.