City have produced many a top talent in recent years, with Alan Browne, Kevin Doyle, Shane Long, Damien Delaney and David Meyler all having been played in the top two tiers of English football in the last 10 years. Many tipped Chiedozie Ogbene to be the graduate to ply their trade across the water...little did they know, the water in question would be between Lee and Shannonside!
Today, Limerick announced the signing of the Douglas native, as they continue their preparations for the season ahead, and to many, it was a bit of a shock. He was the star of the future many thought, playing an important role in the historic UEFA Youth League run, where he terrorist the AS Roma defence, coming on in the second half of the FAI Cup final, as well as the game in Oriel Park showing how close to first team action he was.
Mind you, he isn’t quite yet the finished article. He showed glimpses of what he can against Longford Town and Wexford Youths, but he had yet played the full 90 minutes for the senior team. He could be a prominent part of Limerick side next season, however, nothing in football is certain and injuries can happen, you just have to look at Danny Morrissey for example. A young striker who showed a lot of promise, was linked with moves to England by the end of the 2013 season, and now in 2017, he will be lining out for Finn Harps.
While it is a shame to lose such a young player, who has so much potential, and plays in a position where we are lacking in strength and depth, it’s not all doom and gloom, there’s talks of Pascal Millien moving to Leeside from NASL side, Fort Lauderdale Strikers. I think the Haitian international could very much be a welcome addition to the squad, bringing experience from his time in America, as well as having a spell with Sligo Rovers, where he helped the Bit O’Red to a league title, as well as an FAI Cup.
You also have to remember that (fingers crossed) both John Dunleavy and John Kavanagh will be coming back from injury, so that would mean that Stephen Beattie would be pushed up into a more attacking role, and with Karl Sheppard and Stephen Dooley signing back, and Denzil Fernandez showing plenty of promise in the U19’s squad, it’s not all doom and gloom.
In an interview I was part of on Juice FM with him (link down below if you want to listen to the full thing), he said he based his game off of Cristiano Ronaldo. While he tries to play like the Portuguese star, he quite simply, is not. While he does have talent, he was not the only one who shone while playing for City in the UEFA Youth League.
There was a small bit of an overreaction on Twitter and the forum when it was announced he was training with Limerick for pre-season, personally, I think we will be fine without him, you can’t blame a lad who is trying to get game time, because at the end of the day, that is what every footballer is after, game time. I hope 2016 is not the last time we see him in a City shirt, but the club will keep going whether he does come back or not.
https://soundcloud.com/jameskthedj/interview-on-juice-fm-with-cork-citys-edozie-ogbene-after-his-fai-win
Photo: 42.ie