CORK CITY HAVE moved to strengthen their attacking options for the first half of the League of Ireland season with the loan capture of Portsmouth teenager Dan Smith.

The 19-year-old joins the Rebels on a short-term deal until July and goes straight into John Caulfield’s squad for tonight’s SSE Airtricity League Premier Division clash against Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds.

Smith’s arrival at Turner’s Cross follows confirmation that Matthew Gillam, another loan recruit from Gillingham, will be sidelined for 8-10 weeks after suffering a hamstring injury before the season opener against St Pat’s.

English-born Smith made his Portsmouth debut in an EFL Trophy victory over Southend United in January, having impressed on a prolific loan spell with Bognor Regis Town.

“We are very happy, he comes highly recommended from Portsmouth,” Caulfield says of his new recruit.

“He is a big strong lad, with a very good touch and he looks like a good finisher. He has trained with us, but he obviously needs to get up to the intensity and the pace of our game. He was at our game against Waterford and he said it was a higher intensity than he had been playing at, so we will work to get him up to the speed of things, but he will go straight into the squad for the Sligo game.”

Cork are bidding to record their first win of the campaign against Sligo tonight after suffering back-to-back defeats to St Pat’s and Waterford in the opening two rounds of the 2019 campaign.

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