Second half goals help Cork to win on the road again
SHAMROCK ROVERS………………………………….. 0
CORK CITY………………………………………………….. 2
SOCCER
By Daire Walsh
SECOND-HALF goals from Mark O’Sullivan and Gearoid Morrissey were crucial at Tallaght Stadium last night, as Cork City moved up to second place in the Airtricity League Premier Division with a magnificent triumph over Shamrock Rovers.
A neat 49th minute O’Sullivan finish had opened the scoring for the persistent Leesiders, and although the woodwork came to their rescue during the latter stages, Morrissey’s second deep into stoppage-time ensured that they will head into the mid-season break with their title challenge very much alive.
For their visit to the south Dublin venue, John Caulfield opted to make one alteration to the team that narrowly defeated Athlone Town in their most recent league encounter on May 30.
Former Rovers star Billy Dennehy returned in place of Iarflaith Davoren, with the versatile Brian Lenihan filling the right-back slot in a reshuffled City back-four.
Dennehy had bagged a brace in the 6-0 FAI Cup demolition of St Mochta’s last Friday evening, and that confidence-boosting victory was the tonic they needed ahead of a tricky assignment against Trevor Croly’s outfit.
Colin Healy and skipper John Dunleavy both found themselves in Derek Tomney’s notebook during a fiery opening to the contest, before Garry Buckley was narrowly off-target with a 12th minute long-distance piledriver.
This was the closest that City came to breaking the deadlock inside the first-quarter, and although they were keeping Rovers on the back-foot for large periods, patience was required.
Lenihan was providing an effective attacking outlet for the visitors, and his looping cross 27 minutes in was headed on to the roof of the net by the waiting O’Sullivan.
City’s in-form striker was posing a significant threat to the Hoops defensive pairing of Conor Kenna and Jason McGuinness, but despite surviving on limited possession, the best chance of the opening period fell the way of the hosts.
Following a mazy run up the left-flank four minutes before the break, Kieran ‘Marty’ Waters cut inside superbly, and City netminder Mark McNulty had to be at his very best to turn away his strike.
A Buckley shot from a subsequent move flashed by Barry Murphy’s post, as both teams remained inseparable at the mid-way point.
However, it didn’t remain this way for long, and just four minutes after the restart, City found a breakthrough.
Lenihan was the architect for this opener with another enterprising gallop into enemy territory, and although his pull-back was initially miscued, O’Sullivan was ultimately on hand to fire home.
This was fully-deserved for the way that City had approached the game, but with the introduction of Eamon Zayed seeing Rovers reverting to an orthodox 4-4-2 formation, a tense conclusion lay ahead for the Rebels.
However, despite showing more intent than they had prior to the hour mark, it was until the 81st minute that the Hoops had a clear sight of the City goal again.
Healy’s foul on substitute Dean Kelly had afforded Waters the opportunity to test McNulty from a 25-yard set-piece, but although he left the Cork custodian rooted to the spot, his effort floated away to safety after crashing off the inside of the right-hand upright.
This was the first major let-off of the tie for the 2005 champions, and a quick reaction was required from defensive rock Darren Dennehy to divert Ryan Brennan’s goal-bound header over the crossbar five minutes from the end.
When you consider the atmosphere that they are able to generate for their home encounters, it came as no surprise to see Rovers applying pressure on the City rearguard at the death.
Yet, it was far from being a ‘backs to the wall’ task for the Leesiders, and Healy forced a fine save from Rovers’ Barry Murphy on the stroke of 90 minutes.
This would have helped City to ease towards the finishing line, but after O’Sullivan broke up the play inside the Rovers half in the 95th minute, Morrissey’s clinical bottom-corner strike finally made sure of all three points for his side.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: B Murphy; S Madden, C Kenna, J McGuinness, R Cornwall; S Robinson (R Bayly 73), R Finn, R Brennan; S O’Connor (E Zayed 56), C Kilduff (D Kelly 65), K ‘Marty’ Waters. Subs not used: C Hyland, D O’Connor, E Osam, K Sheppard.
CORK CITY: M McNulty; B Lenihan, d Murray, D Dennehy, J Dunleavy; B Dennehy (R Lehane 89), G Buckley (J Kavanagh 75), C Healy, G Morrissey, L Kearney (D O’Leary 65); M O’Sullivan. Subs not used: I Turner, D Morrissey, K O’Brien, I Davoren.
Referee: Derek Tomney (Dublin).