The rivalry between Cork City and Dundalk hit a peak during the build-up to last weekend's FAI Cup final when Cork keeper Mark McNulty was filmed chanting 'Fuck the Lilywhites' during his side's post league title victory celebrations.
Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny also claimed last week that his captain Stephen O'Donnell had received a call from the Cork City bus - from someone "screaming down the phone" - following last year's cup final.
Speaking on Wednesday night's Off The Ball on Newstalk, Cork City manager John Caulfield denied, "Absolutely, 100 per cent", that a phone call had been made from the Cork bus following their win at the Aviva last year. "Stephen O'Donnell would verify that because he's a gentleman and a brilliant player," added Caulfield.
Caulfield agreed that some of what was said by the Dundalk camp ahead of Cork's penalty shootout win on Sunday went beyond mind games, saying "At the end of the day, from my own point of view, some of the stuff that was said wasn't right."
What I wanted to make sure during the week was that, you know, our guys weren’t side-tracked by anything that was said or anything like that because there was a lot of rubbish said and certain things that were said which were totally lies.
When asked to clarify exactly what he meant by 'total lies', Caulfield cited suggestions that Karl Sheppard would be leaving Turner's Cross to join Dundalk. The 26-year-old has since signed a new two-year deal with Cork.
Why would you leak that our player has signed for the other team four days before the cup final? Stuff like that. The most important thing for me with the players was to ignore everything and get all their concentration ready for the game.
