The first two may not exactly have gone without a hitch but as Dave Hill contemplates the start of his third season with Cork City, the 32-year-old isn't exactly complaining. A cup winner's medal in May, another bout of European football this evening and the feeling that he's really wanted again after his career had appeared to be in terminal decline across the water . . . well, things aren't so bad, reckons the Nottingham-born midfielder.

Former City manager Rob Hindmarch was the one who initiated the rescue operation which prevented Hill having to drop into English non-League football a couple of years back but if the rope was dangled in front of him, the former Ipswich player has grabbed it with both hands and hauled himself up to earn the respect of his City team-mates.

There have been hiccups along the way, most notably a frustrating knee injury that kept him on the sidelines for the bulk of last season and, somewhat more bizarrely for somebody of National League style status, a front page roasting from a tabloid, prompted by allegations regarding his private life.

Hill, though, has bounced back. He returned to play a central role in last season's FAI Cup victory over Shelbourne and was a commanding presence at the heart of City's defence in the first leg of the Cup Winners' cup match against CSKA Kiev.

Stephen Napier's continued absence through injury means that that's where he'll be again at five o'clock this afternoon, a fact he accepts, if a little unenthusiastically. "I prefer to play in midfield and that's where I expected to play in the first match but Dave Barry came over to me before the game and asked me to do a job for him at the back and so that's what I tried to do."

He did it all right, striking up an immediate understanding with young partner Derek Coughlan. Now, he believes, they can complete the job by defending their 21 lead before turning their attention, cautiously, to the other prizes on offer this season.

"Well, we want to win this game, that's the most important thing to us for the moment and - I know it's a bit of a football cliche - then we'll just take the rest of the season one game at a time."

Overall, he admits, there is no shortage of confidence within the panel that City are capable of winning the championship but then "we made a great start last year only to end up having a load of injury problems and falling behind a bit.

"We'll still be without Colin O'Brien for a while but there'll be other players back for us now and so hopefully we can mount a stronger challenge, although looking at the Dublin clubs again this season it's obviously going to be difficult again."

He believes the Cork move has been an inspired switch for a man whose options had become decidedly limited. "I was facing the prospect of dropping out of the league which I wasn't happy about but it wasn't just that. In the lower divisions in England, there was very little football played and so after moving over here I found that I was playing in games where I could express myself again.

"It was fantastic, like taking a leap back 10 years in my career and I've enjoyed every minute of it since."

His highly professional attitude, reckons City manager Dave Barry, should keep him going for a few years yet, although a priority will be to avoid the sort of problems that left him looking on from the stands through the bulk of last season's campaign.

"Last year I had one operation and thought everything would be fine," he says. "I kept thinking I was nearly there but after having problems every time I thought I was nearly ready to play again I finally had an MRI scan.

"That showed that there was still another tear there and so I had to have another operation. It was like being back to the start all over again. In the end it was the cup final by the time I got my fitness back again. Dave came up to me after it and said, `now, look at yourself, you're flying'."

If things go to plan he'll be flying again this afternoon. And far from marking the end of a difficult period for the Englishman, a win this time might just be the start of his greatest year yet.