Posh push gave O'Flynn required impetus

Nobody doubts the fall-out from the ITV digital debacle in England will continue for quite a while. But the writing was on the wall for lower-order clubs across the water well before that and it came as no surprise to John O'Flynn when he was let go by Peterborough United at the end of last season.

The young striker from Cobh was amongst those called in by Barry Fry and wished all the best for the future. Even now the United manager maintains the Irishman had "a bit of everything you need to be a top-class player, when he's fit he's as good as anyone."

But business is business, as they say, and few enterprises involve any harsher realities just now than football in England's lower divisions.

As Fry hinted at, Flynn's fitness during his three years in England was often an issue.

"I'd miss a couple of months here, a couple there with what were just growing problems, really," he recalls, "and then I'd get a hamstring or something when I was trying to get back. But when I was playing I was flying."

In better times the then 19 year-old's strike rate for Peterborough's reserves would have made him a good bet for a new contract. He also did well during a couple of loan spells at non-league clubs but with times so bad there were still no offers when he became available at the start of the summer so returning home to his family seemed the obvious thing to do.

He wasn't back long when a few English clubs asked him along for trials but then Liam Murphy offered him the chance of first team football with Cork City and suddenly it was O'Flynn rather the English clubs that was faced with the prospect of taking a gamble.

"He said to me that if I went for the trials I'd miss the first month of the season here and it might be difficult for me to get back in.

"After thinking about it I decided it was better to stay and as it's turned out I can't really believe how well things have worked out."

His progress, you could say, has been meteoric. Having signed on a Monday he was still trying to put names to faces when he made his debut the following Friday against Shelbourne in front of 6,000 supporters. He scored twice, though, added another five in his next two and has since managed another six between the league and cup - form that has inevitably resulted in him being hailed - a little hopefully - as the new Pat Morley.

The speed with which he has formed an understanding with another recent arrival at Turner's Cross, George O'Callaghan, has helped, as has his speed, solid finishing and strength in the face of tougher defending than he had grown used to in England's reserve team game.

"It's certainly a lot more physical, but I don't mind that," he says. "I've enjoyed it all, to be honest, although the last few weeks have been harder with the results not going our way. Our away from has been terrible and we've been talking a lot about what's been going wrong. Nobody can seem to put their finger on it, though."

Tonight's cup semi-final against Derry is a chance to briefly put those worries to one side, however. O'Flynn finds it a little strange that City are still second in the league table, given their dip in form, but that's nothing compared to the idea of being in a cup final just three months into the season.

"It would be great but strange," he says, "so soon in the season and after joining a new club. Not that anyone's taking it for granted, it's exciting even to be involved in a game like this."

Four months ago, in fact, it would have been virtually unthinkable for the 20 year-old. Now, as he takes the pitch in front of a packed house at Turner's Cross this evening it seems that almost nothing is.