We began the "close to Turner's Cross" experience in the Horse Shoe bar, hard by the ground, and staffed by Dudley Moore's twin brother. From there to the Turner's Cross itself, where we found that Quinn and Hurley had been out on the town last night - but neebody called to tell us. 

Never mind, the sun was out, the fans were in good voice, and it wasn't hoying it down. We got our second look of the weekend at Colin Healy, and we started with Ward, Halford, Collins, Anderson, Kay, Yorke, Miller, Leadbitter, Whitehead, Connolly, and John, kicking off with the sun in our eyes.

Apparently we're not English anymore, but who cares, Our first look and Anderson confirmed that he dos exactly what it says on the tin, and Halford is even bigger when you're sat that low down and close up. We had a bit of fun when the home fans identified one of ours as a fat bastard and he stood on the fence and showed them his fat bits. On the field, Yorke was pulling the strings but we weren't getting the shots in despite some of the best banter between the two sets of fans in a long while. John took the ball well on his chest, but shot over, and we began to apply a bit of pressure and seemed at one stage to be queuing up for the shot - but it never came. The half ended with a nearly goal for Cork and a shot way over from us, then an appearance by King Charlie.

Apparently, David Puttman was there. So there you go.

In the second half, Leadbitter came more into things (or was he just closer to me?), and fired into the side netting after John's shot was blocked. Kay put over a decent cross which John knocked wide with his wedding tackle, then Miller shot over as we started to press a bit. It looked like it was never going to happen when John turned and shot over, then they hit a goal from close in on about 60 minutes.

Keano responded by bringing on Murphy, Stokes, and Richardson for John, Connolly, and Leadbitter. Richardson didn't take long to get into it, shooting towards to the top of the goal only to see it tipped over, but the corner was wasted. Another corner, this time from Miller, was headed goalwards but cleared, then Halford and Kay made way for Donohue and Edwards. Stokes burst through but shot well over, then Mille showed what they call great feet to make himself enough space to waltz into the box and score.  Yorke was replace by Chopra with five or so to go, and we pushed on through Murphy down the left.

Breaking with tradition for pre-season games, the ref added three minutes, not much happened, and it ended 1-1.  A lot better than Saturday night, but still not a win. There are tow schools of thought about pre-season games - firstly that they are just friendlies and should be taken as such, and secondly that they are first-team game and should be won.

I'm not sure which side I'm on at the minute, but one thing is sure – the Cork fans put the majority of Premiership fans to shame. Great banter, non-stop noise, full credit to them.

And by the way, did you know that when God made Sunderland , he was just
showing off?

Man of the Match? Probably Anderson - no messing, straightforward stuff.

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