Cork City defender Ryan Delaney has admitted his teammates were determined to prove Stephen Bradley wrong after the Shamrock Rovers boss claimed the Leesiders aren’t as good as champions Dundalk. The towering centre half grabbed a brace as John Caul
Cork City defender Ryan Delaney has admitted his teammates were determined to prove Stephen Bradley wrong after the Shamrock Rovers boss claimed the Leesiders aren’t as good as champions Dundalk.
The towering centre half grabbed a brace as John Caulfield’s side stretched their unbeaten run in the SSE Airtricity League to 16 games with a comprehensive victory over the Hoops at Turners Cross on Friday night.
Further strikes from Gearoid Morrissey and Johnny Dunleavy ensured City remain 15 points clear of second placed Dundalk despite Trevor Clarke’s stunning opener for Rovers.
And speaking to reporters afterwards, Delaney insisted the comments made by Bradley in the build-up, where he also claimed stopping the threat of Sean Maguire nullifies a lot of Cork’s game, inspired the players.
“It did, massively (inspire the players),” enthused the 20 year old.
“Seeing things in the paper, I wouldn’t say they were slating us but he was putting us down a small bit so we knew straight away that we were going to give our all here, show him what we’re made of and see what he thinks after that.”
“I think it is (disrespectful) but at the same time, you’d never know if that was the actual way he came across.
“He could have just been genuinely thinking that they were a better side and not being disrespectful. But you’d never really know. It could have been, 50/50.”
“There are a lot of coaches saying “Cork, they haven’t played us” or “they haven’t seen us on our day” but that’s not our fault.
“All we have to focus on is playing our best. It doesn’t make a difference to us what the other teams do. That’s their problem.
“The main thing for us to is to keep this unbeaten run up and to have a strong lead going into the break, we know on our day we are good enough to put it up to anyone in this league.”
The City number five is currently on loan from championship club Burton Albion and the league leaders are currently in talks with the English side about the possibility of either extending the loan or turning it into permanent deal.
Delaney has been an ever present during the clubs impressive unbeaten run and is hoping the issue will be resolved in the coming weeks.
“There’s talk about the transfer and we’ll know more in the next week or two it’s still early days,” added Delaney.
“There’s a lot of options so I have to think long term and short term and its up to the two managers what they think is best for me and my agent (Stephen Hunt) will have to see what he thinks as well, there’s a lot of work to be put in.”
