Brendan Rodgers: 'I played Gaelic and hurling - I wasn’t so good at the hurling'

It didn’t take long for Brendan Rodgers to be engulfed by ’Corkness’.

Just a couple of hours after landing in Cork, the Celtic manager was in Cork City Hall amongst some members of the Cork public, the Cork Lord Mayor Fergal Dennehy and Cork City manager Ger Nash on the eve of the Cork Super Cup.

The match itself, which has sold over 30,000 tickets so far, will also be played at Páirc Uí Chaoimh – the home of Cork GAA – providing Rodgers with the perfect way in which to charm the locals in attendance.

“We were training on Saturday, and I was at a wedding in the evening, I met some Dublin guys who weren’t so happy. They filled me in on how they took a bit of a beating in the game,” smiled Rodgers on his first ever visit to the Rebel County, referring to Cork’s 20-point demolition of the Dubs at Croke Park.

“I’ve always followed the hurling, it’s a great occasion in a few weeks’ time, it will be a great match against your neighbours.

“I played Gaelic and hurling – I wasn’t so good at the hurling – but I obviously know the backdrop to the stadium, the history and the heritage of it so it’s going to be a great honour for us to be there and bring Celtic to play there is special.”

Back to football (or soccer) matters though and Rodgers insisted that this friendly against City forms another key step on their way to building towards the upcoming season.

Irish fans may get the chance to see Adam Idah, Liam Scales and Johnny Kenny in action although the Hoops boss admitted his international players that only returned to training last Friday are likely to be given a week before being thrown back into action, ruling Kieran Tierney out of featuring on Leeside.

Celtic's Johnny Kenny (centre) celebrates scoring a goal during the pre-season friendly match against Queen's Park. Pic: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.

“Kieran won’t be involved,” confirmed Rodgers, who also insisted he has yet to decide if Kenny will again be sent out on loan.

“I’ve been really pleased for Johnny since I’ve seen him in January, that was close up. I think he has improved, I think he has developed.

“I spoke to Johnny – funny enough – this morning, just talking about his plan. We would really like him to sign another deal at Celtic and then we will decide what’s going to be the best way to develop him, whether it’s to stay or whether we think he needs another step to go out.

“He’s got a lot of strengths and a lot of qualities; he’s done very well since he came back in January.

“This an important part of our preparation, for sure. We’re very much in our preparation phase, we’ve only been back a week, we played our first game on Friday (a 1-0 win away at Queen's Park).

“The one thing I always know with this type of club, and it was similar with Liverpool, there’s no pre-season friendlies.

“When you’re a big club, I always say it’s a test, so this is another test of us. The Cork guys will be super fit because they are well into their season but that’s good for us because it means we will have to work very hard in the game.

“We expect a great atmosphere; it’s a real privilege for us to play in this stadium and we look forward to playing how we play which is always an attacking brand of football.”

As for City, Nash admits he was disappointed to lose striker Djenairo Daniels, who signed a two-year deal with Kilmarnock on Monday after the two clubs reached an “undisclosed agreement.” The 23-year-old joined the Rebel Army on a short-term deal back in April and scored five goals in 12 Premier Division appearances for the club.

City had been hoping to keep hold of Daniels, who had impressed since coming in to replace the injured Ruairí Keating, until the end of the season as they look to avoid relegation, but he has instead opted to join the Scottish Premier League side.

“We wanted to keep DD, I think he did really well when he was here with us,” said Nash.

“Of course, we are disappointed to lose him, but we can’t dwell on that, we have to move on.

“We have huge games and the reason you have a squad is to give opportunities to people.

“We need to focus on us. Good luck to DD, when he was with us, he did great. The downside to all of these signings when they are window to window is that the possibility of players leaving is always high.

“It’s probably why I have gone down the route of trying to sign Irish players, players who can be here and want to be here for a long time.

“We will be looking to strengthen the squad, definitely.”

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