Cork City 6-0 Longford Town
A six-star showing from Cork City at Turner’s Cross saw them take all three SSE Airtricity League Premier Division points on offer with a ruthless 6-0 victory over Longford Town.
Steven Beattie had the home side in front with just three minutes on the clock – and went on to collect his first hat-trick in City colours – with two goals from Danny Morrissey and a Sean Maguire striker completing the victory.
The win was an important boost for the Leesiders who travel to league champions Dundalk on Friday evening - having beaten them a couple of weeks ago in the President’s Cup.
A surprise defeat in Derry, suspension and injury were key reasons behind five changes for the men in green – Kevin O’Connor, Danny Morrissey, Steven Beattie, Colin Healy and Karl Sheppard all starting their first league games of the season.
Tony Cousins, for his part, made three changes to the team that narrowly lost to St Pat’s last time out, drafting Pat Flynn and Daniel Reilly into his back four in place of Noel Haverty and Conor Powell, while Jamie Mulhall came into the centre of the park with Kevin O’Connor dropping to the bench.
If John Caulfield demanded a reaction from his side beforehand, he certainly got it with Beattie and O’Connor prominent early on.
The latter raced forward down the left to win the game’s first corner in the second minute.
Healy pinged the set piece into the box and when Paul Skinner punched clear, Beattie was on hand to take a touch and fire home from 25 yards.
It was a spectacular effort from the Dubliner who might have doubled his tally two minutes later when he picked a ball from Gearóid Morrissey in midfield; however, he directed his final effort straight at Skinner on this occasion.
The crowd of 2,302 did not have long to wait for a second goal regardless. A lovely ball from Kenny Browne set O’Connor clear down the left once again and the full-back produced a pin-point pass to uncover a roaming Maguire in the six-yard box.
With two goals to his name already in the Premier Division, the former Dundalk striker needed just a moment to find his bearings before blasting home from close range.
Maguire continued to be involved in much of City’s good play throughout the first half and almost nipped in at the near post to get on the end of a long ball forward from John Dunleavy after 22 minutes.
The ball, however, ran to the right and wide.
Gearóid Morrissey fired in an effort from 35 yards a moment later before Browne set Beattie free once more – only for the latter to see his effort fly just wide.
Maguire registered another half chance just past the half-hour mark before another long-range shot from the boot of Gearóid Morrissey saw Skinner parry the ball into the path of Sheppard.
The forward screwed his touch though and the ball zipped well wide with the Town goal at his mercy.
Having settled into the game somewhat after conceding two early goals – without creating any chances of their own – Longford would have been hoping to reach the dressing room just two down.
However, hard work from Beattie saw him barge through Town’s central pairing and when the midfielder’s shot came back off the post, Danny Morrissey was on hand to tap home from a yard out.
The Midleton youngster landed a swerving effort onto the visitors’ crossbar at the Shed End shortly after play resumed, having seen Beattie and Maguire combine to have the Longford defence chasing shadows in the build up.
Beattie was once again in the thick of the action after 52 minutes when Danny Morrissey controlled an excellent pass in from the left-hand wing from the boot of Sheppard.
The forward then directed the ball into Beattie’s path who blasted home beyond Skinner’s reach.
It was no more than Beattie deserved. The 27-year-old was electric in the middle of the park all night and duly claimed his hat-trick 16 minutes later when Sheppard slapped a shot off the crossbar and the number 10 was on hand to bury the rebound in the corner of Skinner’s net.
Cork showed no sign of easing off the accelerator despite the scoreline and goal number six arrived with 11 minutes remaining.
Substitute and Under-19 star Chiedozie Ogbene found Dunleavy with a lovely ball and the captain’s pass to Danny Morrissey allowed the striker take a touch before poking home for his second of the night.
Cork City: Mark McNulty; Johnny Dunleavy, Eoghan O’Connell (Michael McSweeney 62), Kenny Browne, Kevin O’Connor; Danny Morrissey, Steven Beattie, Colin Healy, Gearóid Morrissey (Mark O’Sullivan 62), Karl Sheppard; Sean Maguire (Chiedozie Ogbene 76).
Substitutes: Alan Bennett, Stephen Dooley, Alan Smith, Ian Turner.
Longford Town: Paul Skinner; Mark Hughes, Pat Flynn (Keith Beirne 83), Mark Rossiter, Daniel O’Reilly; David O’Sullivan, Jamie Mulhall, Philip Gannon, Kealan Dillon (John McKeown 61), Kaleem Simon (Karl Chambers 73); Josh O’Hanlon.
Substitutes: Kevin O’Connor, Tristan Noack-Hofmann, Ian Molloy, Cian Fay.
Referee: Sean Grant.
