Cork City 3-1 Finn Harps
Cork City picked up their first SSE Airtricity Premier League Division win in four games with a 3-1 win over Finn Harps at Turner’s Cross, despite being forced to play most of the second half with 10 men.
A deflected goal from the boot of Gearóid Morrissey, Sean Maguire’s fifth League goal of the season and a fine finish from substitute Karl Sheppard were enough to claim all three points and end the Rebel Army’s run of draws, which stretched back to the beginning of the month.
The Donegal side, for their part, endured a testing night, losing two players to injury before the 26th minute of the encounter but still maintained enough focus to claw a goal back late on thanks to the efforts of Ryan Curran.
Caulfield made three changes to the side that drew in Galway last time out, bringing Kevin O’Connor, Gearóid Morrissey and Maguire into his starting XI.
Sheppard and Ian Turner dropped to the bench while Celtic loanee Eoghan O’Connell missed out because of injury.
The visitors have been forced to negotiate a lengthy injury list in recent weeks and manager Ollie Horgan drafted Ethan Boyle in to cover for latest absentee Keith Cowan, with Raymond Foy pushing Tony McNamee down to the substitutes list.
City have been guilty of a number of slow starts so far this season but there was no repeat on this occasion as a goal within the first 90 seconds of play settled any early anxiety.
O’Connor broke clear down the left and picked out Maguire hovering at the edge of the Harps box with a fine ball.
The striker took a touch before laying the ball on to Gearóid Morrissey to his right and the latter then fired beyond the reach of Richard Brush, helped by a deflection off the unfortunate Packie Mailey.
The hosts have struggled to convert goal chances in recent games but there was little sign of any rustiness when they moved 2-0 ahead with seven minutes on the clock. Stephen Dooley’s corner was met by the head of Maguire in the six-yard box and the Kilkenny native made no mistake with his bullet effort.
Down two goals early on, Horgan’s game plan continued to fall away with the loss of both Foy and Adam Hanlon to injury within 15 minutes of each other.
Brush did, however, come to his team’s aid just past the half-hour mark when Dooley raced clear down the left-hand side of the pitch, turning inside to fire on goal from 15 yards out – only for the experienced net minder to get low and block the winger’s stinging shot.
Maguire danced his way by Brush six minutes later when he found himself through one-on-one with the keeper but the ball caught under his feet on a bobbly pitch before he could get a snap shot away, giving the Harps defence time to recover and clear the danger.
The Leesiders were reduced to ten men early in the second half when Kenny Browne was punished for an off-the-ball tussle with Dave Scully.
The centre-half had challenged Brush for corner ball on 55 minutes and when the keeper was awarded a free out, Browne and Harps striker Scully had words in the immediate aftermath. Referee Padraigh Sutton consulted his assistant referee before showing the City man a straight red and Scully a yellow card.
The decision gave the visitors some impetus initially with Scully drawing gasps from the 2,403-strong crowd with a shot from distance on 70 minutes.
Any nerves were settled six minutes later though, as Maguire – at the heart of much of City’s best play – broke clear down the right and found Sheppard who fired home from the edge of the box.
Harps maintained the fight until the very end and had the final say when Ciaran Coll and substitute Liam Flatley combined to allow Curran fire past Mark McNulty from close range.
There was also still time for Mark O’Sullivan to trouble Gallagher with a powerful free kick on 85 minutes. The contest would end 3-1 in favour of the hosts though.
Cork City: Mark McNulty; John Dunleavy, Alan Bennett, Kenny Browne, Kevin O’Connor; Steven Beattie (Danny Morrissey ’77), Gearóid Morrissey, Greg Bolger, Garry Buckley, Stephen Dooley (Karl Sheppard ’57); Sean Maguire (Mark O’Sullivan ’77).
Substitutes: Colin Healy, Gavan Holohan, Alan Smith, Ian Turner.
Finn Harps: Richard Brush (Ciaran Gallagher ’61); Ethan Boyle, Damien McNulty, Packie Mailey, Ciaran Coll; Ryan Curran, Raymond Foy (Tony McNamee ’10), Gareth Harkin, Sean Houston, Adam Hanlon (Liam Flatley ’25); Dave Scully.
Substitutes: Ryan McConnell, Mattie Crossan, Michael Rafter.
Referee: Padraigh Sutton.
