Dave Mooney - Cork City

Cork City

After Mooney's spectacular form throughout the 2007 League of Ireland season it was obvious that he would be playing somewhere else than First Division football in Flancare Park. He had been linked with a move to the Football League next season with Football League Championship sides Crystal Palace and Colchester United reportedly interested in signing the striker. Representatives from Premier League side Fulham were said to have been in attendance at the FAI Cup final, and Leeds United manager Dennis Wise had also watched Mooney in action.

However Mooney promised to follow his manager Alan Mathews down south if he was to stay in Ireland. He had been offered a contract by English Premiership side Blackburn Rovers, but instead signed a longer three-year contract with perennial title challengers Cork City in January 2008 thus ending two and a half years in the midlands.

Mooney was a revelation in his only season with Cork City, racing to the top of the goalscoring charts again. He was widely regarded as one of the best players in the league. A particularly impressive showing against Derry City at The Brandywell saw Mooney score twice in a minute to bring the game (which Derry had dominated) level at 2–2, and come close to completing his hat-trick just moments later with a speculative 30-yard effort that came back off an upright (a spectacular goal from Denis Behan eventually gave Cork all three points). Before European football came to Turner's Cross midway through the season, Mooney had scored 18 goals in total, and broken his team mate Behan's record for a scoring run by netting 11 goals in six matches. He then scored on his European debut, in a 2–2 UEFA Cup draw with Finnish side FC Haka .