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Now that Cork City’s ascension to the top tier of Irish football is confirmed, it would be amiss to not contemplate the enormity of what they, and their supporters, have achieved in doing so. The final shriek of Paul McLoughlin’s whistle may have at last signalled triumph for the Rebel Army, but Saturday’s glory had an early birth. Not in the goals of the admirably prolific Cummins, or the guile of the Morrissey/Duggan partnership, or the masters of lock-out at the heart of defence. The zeal with which City have brushed aside their opposition has triggered pulses to the same rapidity of 2005’s heights, but somehow this achievement owes more to those in the stands. The magnitude of City’s successful scaling of the first division should primarily be measured by the ceaseless effort of its support. For it is with their hearts and money and unerring refusal to let what they love dissolve that has seen the club grow from its inception to the present day’s euphoria. It could, and maybe should, have been different. It could, after all, have been nothing.
Casting one’s eyes back to past horrors is never an enamouring proposition, but perhaps now is as good a time as any to survey the disrepair that was done and the succeeding years of reformation that continues to prevail. As was well reported at the time Cork City as an entity shambled into extinction in early 2010, a sad product of too many court appearances and too little care by those who lied when pronouncing their love and visions for the club. Naming those culpable for setting the club into decline may be a refreshing exercise, but opportunists of their nature do not deserve the recognition of infamy. As evidenced by the club’s now healthy structure, a football club, no matter how wealthy or poor its owners are, can never be rendered unimpaired unless its ownership has its best intentions at heart. Particularly within Irish football, where little or no money can be generated, the emergence of ‘businessmen’ and promises of cash injections should always be met with cynicism. The true way to evolve, as seen, is the DIY model of City.
There’s an odd sense of pride and regret when contemplating Cork City’s support. On the face of it, averaging 2,000 spectators as they have done all season, they are only 2nd behind the Premier Division champions Shamrock Rovers in boasting the largest support across Ireland. Yet set against Cork’s populace and its perceived adoration for sport, its size is miniscule. But somehow, despite not garnering the numbers the club deserves, it continues to work and prosper. The inception of F.O.R.A.S. and its laudable phoenix-like flight from the old regime’s ashes set in motion one of Cork sport’s greatest triumphs. For a spell it looked as though the inconceivable would occur and the city would be unable to bear a competitive football team. Many naturally conceded that the club’s disintegration would sever any love they harboured for local sport. The pursuit of glory in football may be a pertinent ingredient for one’s devotion, but for the hardcore it’s solely a bond to forever cling to. For that attachment to be cut off at its roots, reducing what was once prosperous and paramount to those who parted with money and even more time, was too much to bear. Those loyal to the cause rightly became disconcerted and distanced from the game as a result. Too many bluffers with too little devotion and too many lies had made it ugly.
The scars of the tumultuous times won’t ever go away, but their imprint has begun to fade. City’s first series of jousts in the lower echelons of Irish football was a turgid and overtly tough episode, but the lessons of its early days have been turned into weaponry for this latest triumph. The nature of City’s escalation from the mediocrity of last season’s campaign to the cut-throat relentlessness of their current set-up mirrors the style with which the club rose from its decline. Its unfaltering survival post-resurrection owes not to the finances of an untrustworthy shyster, but to the passion and desire of those whose sole interest is love – for the club and for the game. In a sport too often set into ruination by men in suits, it is an achievement not only for the club but everyone on any terrace across the land that Cork City have risen by the will of its support. Faced with illimitable adversary, that the club has wriggled free of toil and is now at its healthiest state is perhaps the most momentous attainment of all. Delirium has displaced anguish.
Hidden in the caterwauls of jubilation, the Rebel Army’s huge support exalted relief as well as euphoria on Saturday night. City have been, without doubt, the best football side in the league. Luck is often attributed to teams who win when all hope has seemingly been lost- it’s a myth. It doesn’t come into it. It is an inherent belief – a fundamental part of all this great game’s winners – that ensures a side reaches the promised land of success, not some divine fortune. Supporters of the club will concede that, whilst many of its battles have been joyous to partake in, participating in the League of Ireland’s 1st division was often as galling as it was rewarding. Save for its top 4 sides, the division is aesthetically unpleasing and not a place we wanted to spend another year in. Now out of it, City can resume locking horns with its fiercest rivals who recently evaded them. Many will purport that City belong in the Premier Division, as if by right a place should be held there for them. Again, it’s a myth – yet somehow, now that they’re back there, it just seems right. Saturday’s bringing of promotion was ample reward for those who faced everything to be part of it: the cold, the burden of spending money, the moments when despair rather than glory crept in. To have attained promotion is an outstanding feat – to have done so as champions, even more so. ‘City ‘til we die,’ goes the chant - the very reason why the club didn’t perish but blossomed.
