Cork City 2-0 Longford Town
Cork City picked up another home win and three more valuable SSE Airtricity League Premier Division points in the title hunt, beating Longford Town 2-0 with goals from Garry Buckley and Colin Healy at Turner’s Cross.
With Dundalk in town on Friday, a game that is live on RTÉ2, the Leesiders did not have it easy against their midland opponents and struggled to find the back of the net until just before half-time when Buckley poked home from close range.
It was far from a vintage performance though, and the fixture was only settled midway through the second half when Healy whipped in a free-kick that dipped through a crowded box and beyond Paul Skinner’s outstretched hand.
City boss Caulfield made two changes to the team that had claimed all three points last time out against Drogheda United with Dan Murray and Healy returning to the action in place of Alan Bennett and John Dunleavy.
Caulfield’s counterpart, Tony Cousins, made four changes, with Jamie Mulhall, Martin Deady, Kaleem Simon and Rhys Gorman all starting, and the game was just four minutes old when a lovely ball from Mulhall found striker Gary Shaw in space. The Longford number 10 lifted an effort well over Mark McNulty but it flew just over the crossbar.
The home side were heavy favourites coming into the encounter with a superb home record so far this season, and the visitors, unsurprisingly, set out a defence-minded stall that was excellently marshalled from the centre of the park by their captain Stephen Rice.
Despite losing his footing mid strike, a superb ball from the fit-again Healy found Ross Gaynor free down the left on seven minutes. The full-back picked out Billy Dennehy on the edge of the area, but the winger’s shot was blocked by the advancing Willie Tyrell.
Pat Flynn forced McNulty to gather under pressure from his header two minutes later - the half chance another subtle sign City would have to work hard to earn their victory.
Rice tested City’s number one with a long-range effort from the edge of the area just past the half hour, and then headed over from a Rhys Gorman corner four minutes to increase the already-rising anxiety levels around the ground. The hosts rode their luck, however, and moved ahead a minute later.
Billy Dennehy escaped down the left wing once again and his cross looped beyond Skinner’s hand and onto the Longford crossbar. Buckley was quickest to react and knocked the ball home to put Caulfield’s side in front.
Dennehy duplicated his cross two minutes later to plant a lovely ball on Mark O’Sullivan’s head. The striker was able to get both power and direction into his header, but it drifted inches wide of the Town post, much to the disappointment of most of the 2,511-strong crowd.
The match ticked past the hour mark before the first real chance of note in the second half. John Kavanagh landed a cross and though O’Sullivan got a shot away, it was wonderfully saved by Skinner.
When it arrived in the 66th minute, the second goal was another sight to behold from the boot of Healy. Buckley was fouled just outside the box, and the former Ireland international - who garnered headlines for a stunning bicycle kick last season - hit the set piece low and with plenty of pace to beat the Town netminder at his near post.
Billy Dennehy might have added to home team’s tally three minutes later when he picked up a loose ball and shaped himself nicely to let one fly, but the ball crept wide at the last moment.
As it was, the two goals were enough to gain all the points available on the night, and set up a mouth-watering fixture between City and the league champions in the coming days.
Cork City FC: Mark McNulty; John Kavanagh, Dan Murray, Darren Dennehy, Ross Gaynor; Kieran Djilali (Rob Lehane 55), Garry Buckley, Liam Miller (Gavan Holohan 81), Colin Healy, Billy Dennehy; Mark O’Sullivan (Danny Morrissey 70).
Substitutes: Alan Bennett, Alan Smith, Josh O’Shea, Liam Kearney.
Longford Town: Paul Skinner; Jamie Mulhall, Pat Flynn, Willie Tyrell, Conor Powell; Martin Deady (Ayman Ben Mohammed 61), Rhys Gorman (Lorcan Shannon 77), Kevin O’Connor, Stephen Rice, Kaleem Simon, Gary Shaw (David O’Sullivan 72).
Substitutes: Dan Henderson, Tony Morris, Mark Salmon, Mark Rossiter.
Referee: Jim McKell.
