Richardson confident Cork will bounce back from defeat

Setanta Cup: Damien Richardson is confident his side will bounce back from their Setanta Cup defeat by Linfield in Belfast on Monday night in time for tomorrow night's vital Premier Division clash with St Patrick's Athletic at Turner's Cross.

The Cork City boss conceded his side needs to learn how to put way opponents after failing to convert a succession of good scoring chances on Monday night. However, his suggestion, one echoed by midfielder Joe Gamble, that the southerners were the better side and had deserved to win the game was described as "ungracious" and displaying a "lack of respect" by Linfield manager David Jeffrey.

"I'd love to have the St Patrick's game tomorrow night," said Richardson after Monday's defeat, "we'll be ready for it. I have conflicting emotions about tonight. I'm disappointed, almost depressed we lost the game but I'm enormously proud of the players because it must be many years since Linfield were dominated in that manner in their own back yard. The only reason we didn't win the game was that we didn't score the first goal. If we'd done that we would have gone on to score three or four. We've got to acquire the knack of winning games - we've drawn too many - we particularly have to win the games we deserve to win but also the some of those we don't. The fact is, though, when you're reconstructing a side they don't become champions overnight."

Richardson said having "run them (Linfield) ragged", the players would have a point to prove against St Pat's when a defeat would leave Cork trailing the league leaders by 12 points with just over a quarter of the campaign played.

Gamble was similarly dismissive of Linfield despite the character displayed by the Northerners who survived long periods of pressure without conceding before seizing upon a late opportunity to grab a decisive goal.

The midfielder and his goalkeeper, Michael Devine, were culpable for allowing Aidan O'Kane the chance to shoot from close range but Gamble was defiant afterwards, insisting the result was something of an aberration and that the southerners were comfortably the better side.

"We're not afraid of anyone in Northern Ireland," said the 25-year-old. "They're not good enough to beat anyone. They are not good enough to beat Pat's, they are not good enough to beat us, they are not good enough to beat Drogheda. We're the top three teams in the league . . . and we would beat anyone up there. We beat Portadown 7-0 and it could have been 10. With the northern teams there is a big gap. You could see that here, we ran them ragged. You could play that game again 10 times and we would win nine of them."

Somewhat predictably Jeffrey expressed disappointment with the comments. "At the very least they are being a little ungracious," he said. "If they are so good why couldn't they beat us tonight. They have been to one (Setanta Cup) final, we've been to two and we're the only club to get to the knockout stages in each of its three years so, yes, I think you'd be right to think there's a lack of respect."

Jeffrey went on the pay tribute to the mental strength displayed by players whose win made it 21 wins, eight draws and no defeats for Linfield in all competitions since the middle of December.

Cork, by contrast, may lie third in the league but they lost to last placed Waterford United in their opening game of the new campaign and have since drawn with two of other bottom four, Bray Wanderers and Galway United.

Richardson's decision to bring on the club's top scorer, Roy O'Donovan, with half an hour left to play in the final group game against Dungannon Swifts also looked like a costly misjudgment in the wake of Monday's defeat.

The southerners were 2-0 up at the time and only needed to avoid being beaten by eight goals in order to progress but the 21-year-old picked up his second booking of the tournament within moments of replacing Brendan Daly and was, as a result, suspended for the Linfield game.

Richardson admitted the striker had been sorely missed and suggested the outcome of Monday's game would have been different had he been available. A win in Saturday week's final, which would have been staged in Cork had they qualified, could have been worth in excess of €200,000 in prize money, gate receipts and assorted other revenue.