I watched their 2-0 win against Longford Town last Monday, a game in which the most notable thing was what City didn’t do, or what, more precisely, they didn’t need to do. There were no lung-bursting runs from the home side, no last-minute lunges, no risky tackles. No yellow cards, no injuries, no panic, no problem.

Truth be told, Cork City were, at most, in second gear. Longford possessed a few experienced players through the spine of their team, but lacked the strength and top-end-of-the-league quality everywhere else. Once Cork scored the first goal, it was over.

Some regular commentators on the League of Ireland have recently pointed to an ‘alarming gulf,’ between the top three or four teams and the rest. In this context, they have judged the recently announced increase in prize money that will be awarded to our European representatives as a bad thing.

They worry that our league will become like the Scottish league was a few years ago, where there were really only two teams that could win the title. They would prefer a league where things are more uncertain. A league where a team can come from nowhere to challenge the top teams. A league where Longford Town, freshly promoted from the First Division — well-organised, committed and with a few decent players — can threaten to win the title.

I find this idea regressive. The paramount consideration should be to increase standards in our league.

I have nothing against Longford Town. They have a great ground, a very impressive recent record of FAI cup wins and a decade ago they were genuinely a top three or four side. My issue is with the lack of encouragement for the teams that want to progress at the top end of the league — be that Cork City now, or in years to come, maybe Longford Town again.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing that the better teams and the better players are rewarded. In fact, I think the FAI should do more to help our top clubs progress in Europe rather than focusing so much on the national team.

But, in certain quarters, the reaction to the increased European funding seems to be one of worry. The status quo needs to be protected. ‘Keep our league down in the gutter looking up at the stars of the national team’, seems, to me, to be a view held by many of the more powerful stakeholders in Irish football.

Cork City FC have a few genuine stars in their team. Liam Miller, fleet-footed and calm, oozes quality in how simple he makes the game look. Colin Healy is similar but with a steelier side. Young John Kavanagh is lighting up the right-hand side with his clever and penetrating runs. On the left, Billy Dennehy is pacy and effective while, at the back, Cork are really, really strong.

Dundalk, whom City meet in a crunch match tonight, have their own stars too. Left back Dane Massey is being watched by Martin O’Neill for possible inclusion in the national squad. Daryl Horgan is trickery personified, and the addition of Ronan Finn from Shamrock Rovers was a big scoop for Stephen Kenny’s men this season. But it is midfielder Richard Towell who has been the jewel in the crown of the league champions for the past year or two. His recent goals having kept Dundalk at the top of the table.

It will be intriguing to see how Towell gets on against this City midfield tonight. It is certain to be a fiercely competitive match played at a high standard by players who are good enough to be full-time professional footballers.

In short, the type of match that we should be striving to recreate around the country — without the need to apologise for it.