Dolan spurred by pressure
Friday March 26th 2004
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Pat Dolan: Under pressure on Leeside
CORK CITY boss Pat Dolan says he revels in the pressure of delivering success to Leeside, even though the expectations on his shoulders may be more of a burden than those on his Dublin counterparts.
City are being tipped by many to break the capital stranglehold on the league championship, despite the fact that champions Shelbourne, and last season's runners-up Bohemians, remain the bookies' favourites.
"I don't have a problem with people tipping us to win the league because until you come down to Cork, you realise that people's expectations here are for nothing less," said Dolan, who began his second season as City boss with a 3-1 win at home to Dublin City last week.
"But we've got nobody who's won anything in our team and we're competing against big sides from Dublin who know how to win a league championship. But we are learning all the time, and I think we are bridging the gap.
"The fact remains, though, that if we win or lose a match in Cork, our players will know about it because the whole city is focused on football. The minute one of our players walks out of the ground, they will know all about it, depending on the result.
"You won't find that level of enthusiasm in Dublin. If you walk past some of the grounds in Dublin, you wouldn't even know that a match is going on, so I hardly think the players are going to get hassled in the street. Down here it's different though," added the former St Patrick's Athletic boss.
City's title hopes will depend on the enduring fitness of striker John O'Flynn, so the news that he hasn't trained all week because of an abdominal strain will be greeted with sharp intakes of breath by City fans. Dolan rates him a 50-50 chance.
Rovers looked utterly disjointed in the first-half against champions Shelbourne last week but improved after the break, particularly due to the steadying contribution of Derek Tracey, who may be rewarded with a starting berth.
Trevor Croly's return from suspension will provide the only definite change, as he slots in at right-back for Stephen Gough.
"It's very early to start coming to any conclusions but there is definitely room for improvement on what we showed last week," admitted Liam Buckley. "It's a new game this week though and we will need to gel the group a little better if we want to get a positive result."
