Focused Kearney back on track

FAI Cup, Shelbourne v Cork City (Tolka Park, 8.00pm): Liam Kearney is in a better place, back home cutting a swagger on Leeside. Dublin life proved a misadventure. Time spent at Shelbourne was not what he'd hoped for.  Some supporters would retort it was far from what they'd hoped for too.

Tonight the 23-year-old Cork City winger returns to Tolka Park bidding to confound those critics. It won't be his first glimpse of Drumcondra since leaving, he was here last month to play Shamrock Rovers. Still, it will be his first flicker of red - that familiar jersey, but now worn by strangers.

"It's obviously a very different team from when I was there," he says of Shelbourne's demise and subsequent clear-out. "But I'm sure they'll be up for it. Obviously it's their biggest game of the season but it's a huge game for us as well. We want to do well in the cup this year and try and win as many trophies as we can."

Following the league winning euphoria of two seasons ago, Kearney's bubble burst. An enticing six-month deal with Dutch outfit Heerenveen was mooted but Cork rejected what they felt was a derisory offer.

A subsequent independent tribunal ruled the player a free agent but, after a drawn out saga, Heerenveen lost interest. Blame was attributed in every direction.  In stepped Shelboune who signed the frustrated winger on a free.

"Holland was where I wanted to go," says the former Nottingham Forest player. "Things were looking like they would work out that way. But then there were a few problems with Cork City who decided they couldn't let me go there. That was probably the reason I left Cork.

"It upset me and things really deteriorated from there. I felt I was being treated badly and I felt, for my own head, that I needed to get away. I had to get out. Maybe going to Shelbourne wasn't the right move in hindsight. But you live by the sword and die by the sword. I certainly did."

And despite his promise and potential, the Irish under-21 international played just a handful of games for the Dubliner's before losing his place. Confidence quickly plummeted and it was a long clamber back to the surface.

His then manager, Pat Fenlon, afforded him time away to regroup. His contract was temporarily frozen and he returned home. He stayed fit by hurling. It was a necessary release and flushed frustration from the system. Kearney did return, pocketed a league medal too, but never really made his mark.

"There were a lot of things wrong at the time," Kearney continues. "My own personal confidence wasn't high because of other outside situations. At the club I had a good relationship with Pat but it just didn't work out for me. But look, I still don't have any regrets about making the move, I needed to get away. But now I'm back at Cork and I'm happy to be back."

"When I was in Dublin, I always felt if I was playing football in Ireland I'd be happier playing at home. There's always that feeling if you're from Cork, you want to be playing for Cork. And, at the moment, I'm enjoying my football and I'm playing which is the most important thing to me."

It is, of course, too early in the season to discount Cork's title credentials. But erratic form, particularly of late away from home, feeds the doubters. While the players haven't helped themselves, Kearney warns against writing his side off.

"A lot of players have left Cork over the last few years and if they'd stayed I think the team would be unbelievable now," he said. "People might be writing us off but there's a long way to go yet."

Kearney, whose last FAI Cup game for Cork was the 2005 final defeat to Drogheda, is out to prove something similar tonight.