John Caulfield makes all the right noises in advance of a massive match tomorrow night. He provides perspective on the occasion, is realistic about his side’s journey, complimentary about his opponents and the United support this season.
But underneath, there is a fierce competitor that will be desperate for a result tomorrow night. Along with Chris Collopy and Ollie Horgan, Caulfield will have his side primed for battle.
A generational opportunity remains but the margin for error is tightening. While predictions for this season should have been discontinued long ago, a result in Inchicore feels necessary to sustain European ambitions and set up one of the biggest Connacht Derbies ever next week.
Caulfield can already recall the achievementto date with pride: “We’ve had a tremendous season. The lads have been fantastic. With three games to go in the season, we still have an outside chance of Europe. Obviously, it’s the top three that get Europe and potentially four if Derry win the cup and they’re in the final.
“It just shows how well we’ve done. At the same time, St. Pat’s are the form team at the moment. They still have an outside chance of winning the league. They’re after winning six games in a row.
“In their last three games, they’ve beaten Rovers, Shels and Bohs all away and scored nine goals. You can see that they’re absolutely flying. But we are the only team that have drawn with them over the last eight games.
“There is huge excitement for us. We know how good they are but at the same time, all season we have been up against it, and the lads have done well. We have taken results off Pats. We were desperately unlucky to lose to them in the last minute in the summer.
“We have the best defensive record, but we are the second lowest in scoring. That’s been frustrating. We have had injuries to attacking players. In fairness to Stephen Walsh, we’d be goosed without him. He has been unbelievable for us.
“We are looking forward to the game. The only disappointment for us is that Greg Cunningham is out, and Maurice Nugent is out. Junior Uzokwe is out long-term as well.
“We have worked hard and the reason we are in there is because we turned over many results this year. We are excited going to Pats. A lot of people will write us off, but we will go up with confidence, knowing that if we play to our best we have a shot."
His own supporters will no longer write him or his team off. The rancour in the Markets Field after the Waterford playoff defeat isn’t even two years old. Yet, there is a rare symbiosis in the club presently, sustained perhaps by results, but reflective of the building of a club and not just a team.
Caulfield is full of praise for the backing his side gets and provides context for it: “This year has been incredible. There were 4,500 people at the Dundalk game last week. We’ve come from a very low base to have crowds that are second or third biggest in the Premier Division, which is phenomenal.
“It’s all about the supporters. The atmosphere they create. We were in Waterford a couple of weeks ago and were 1-0 down at half-time. Our fans created an incredible atmosphere down there and we came back and got two second half goals.
“We know we have a big crowd going on Friday night. We know they’ll be vocal and behind us. We need that. The supporters mean everything. We hadn’t got many supporters four years ago, and now we do and long may it continue.
“We want to make sure that they’re proud walking around the streets because there was a stage in the history of the club, for a long time there wasn’t many people following the club and they weren’t proud of the club. You can see that our supporters have their chests out and are wearing the gear. That’s what it’s about.
“It means so much to us all. Most Saturday mornings, walking around the city, you can see people in great form because the team have done well.”
History is being chased by some; futures hang in the balance elsewhere. The outcome in Inchicore should settle some of the uncertainty.
