Cork City 1-0 Dundalk: Leesiders lift FAI Cup with extra-time strike
by Daire Walsh at Aviva Stadium
Sean Maguire’s injury-time strike right at the end of extra-time gave Cork City victory over Dundalk
Cork City avenged their 2015 FAI Cup final defeat to Dundalk by breaking the Lilywhites’ hearts with a late, late extra-time strike to lift the 2016 trophy.
Sean Maguire’s deflected finish was enough to hand John Caulfield’s side victory in the season-ending battle between the leagues’ top-two finishers.
Both teams had opportunities to win a tightly-contested showpiece in normal time, but thanks to some fine saves from Dundalk’s Gary Rogers and his City counterpart Mark McNulty, a breakthrough goal proved to be elusive.
A penalty shoot-out appeared to be inevitable as the additional period drew to a close, but after Dundalk failed to deal with a long throw-in during the opening minute of stoppage-time, Maguire was in the right place to find the bottom left-hand corner with a scrambled finish.
Dundalk – who welcomed skipper Stephen O’Donnell back into their starting line-up – dominated possession during the opening period, with the in-form Daryl Horgan having a major influence on the play. Indeed, after Cork were turned over in possession on the stroke of 40 minutes, the Galway native was presented with acres of space to run into.
He delivered a neat pass to David McMillan on this occasion, but the former UCD striker’s shot was superbly turned behind by City netminder Mark McNulty.
Cork had struggled to make a significant attacking impact prior to the interval, but when the action resumed, they were determined to intensify the pressure on the Dundalk back-four. Alan Bennett had a flicked effort from a Kevin O’Connor set-piece cleared off the line by Sean Gannon on the hour mark, and O’Connor was also unfortunate to see his curling free-kick just clearing the crossbar.
Despite introducing John Mountney, Dean Shiels and Ciaran Kilduff from the bench, Dundalk were struggling to settle back into their usual rhythm in the second-half, and Dundalk shotstopper Gary Rogers prevented City substitute Chiedozie Ogbene from securing a winner in the 84th-minute.
Kilduff was also close to finding the net from a Horgan cross, but an additional 30 minutes of play were ultimately required before a winner emerged from the encounter.
Understandably, there were tired bodies on both sides during extra-time, and while Dundalk threatened to unlock the City defence in the latter stages, the Rebel Army claimed their third-ever FAI Cup in extraordinary fashion – courtesy of Maguire’s close-range finish at the death.