Cork City 0-0 Bohemians
Cork City missed another opportunity to close the gap on SSE Airtricity League leaders Dundalk when they were held to a 0-0 draw by Bohemians at Turner's Cross.
Sean Maguire had two goals disallowed for offside in the second half, but the goal-shy Rebels failed to make the vital breakthrough and are now five points behind their league rivals with a solitary game in hand.
Bohemians, for their part, worked hard off the ball but were reduced to shooting from distance, rarely threatened otherwise and will have been happy leaving Cork with a point in their back pocket.
The home side made three changes from the side that lost to Sligo Rovers earlier in the week, bringing in Alan Bennett, Garry Buckley and Gavan Holohan in place of Dave Mulcahy, Karl Sheppard and Gearóid Morrissey.
The visitors also made changes. Missing talisman Ismahil Akinade because of illness, Keith Long named Keith Buckley, Jake Kelly and Eoin Wearen in his starting selection with Kurtis Byrne and Ian Morris dropping to the bench.
The relevance of Dundalk's mid-week defeat to Bray Wanderers was not lost on the crowd of 2,816 as City played with care early on, keen not to concede territory or a goal in the opening stages.
Bohs, likewise, were content to sit in and defend in numbers and, as a result, the game was 14 minutes old before either team managed to create something close to a scoring opportunity.
Derek Prendergast dwelled on a clearance too long, allowing Maguire to pounce and steal possession. Through one-on-one with Shane Supple, however, the striker fired his right-footed effort at just the right height for the Bohs keeper to parry away from goal and his defenders did the rest to clear the danger.
The Gypsies registered two shots from distance within a couple of minutes of each other courtesy of Mark Quigley and Eoin Wearen, but the next notable effort again fell the way of the men in green.
With 25 minutes on the clock, a superbly floated ball from Greg Bolger landed in over the shoulder of Maguire but with a huge amount of pace on the ball, the front man could only blaze over Supple's crossbar.
Quigley landed a well-placed free kick into the hands of Mark McNulty on the half hour mark as Long's men came more into the contest. However, City continued to probe - just without too much success in directly in front of goal.
Garry Buckley fired over from the edge of the box in the 34th minute, before Jake Kelly forced McNulty into a decent save at the other end - the winger running on to a lovely ball from Wearen to break through into the box.
Buckley had another chance to break the deadlock shortly before half time.
O'Connor's free kick found the midfielder as he drifted away from his marker at the back post, however, Supple was out quickly before the 22-year-old could make any firm connection with the ball.
Maguire should have had the Leesiders off to the best possible start at the beginning of the second half.
He ran on to an excellent cross from Stephen Dooley two minutes after the restart, but could only hold his head in his hands after blazing over from 20 yards.
Stephen Best blocked a goal-bound effort from Mike McSweeney on 53 minutes after a header onwards from Kenny Browne. The incident saw Supple injured and replaced by Dean Delany though, who was booked eight minutes later for time wasting.
Caulfield brought on Danny Morrissey and Mark O'Sullivan in quick succession in an effort to further aid his side's desperate search for a goal.
Maguire planted a ball in the back of the Bohs' net on 72 minutes - after excellent link up play from Buckley and Beattie - however, the effort was ruled out for offside.
Try as they might though, City came up short in front of goal for the second time in a week with a second Maguire effort ruled out for offside in added time after a wonderful effort from Danny Morrissey was blocked initially by Delany.
Cork City FC: Mark McNulty; Michael McSweeney (Danny Morrissey '58), Alan Bennett, Kenny Browne, Kevin O'Connor; Greg Bolger; Steven Beattie, Garry Buckley (Colin Healy '80), Gavan Holohan (Mark O'Sullivan '68), Stephen Dooley; Sean Maguire.
Substitutes: Matthew Connor, Dave Mulcahy, Gearóid Morrissey, Karl Sheppard.
Bohemians: Shane Supple (Dean Delany '57); Derek Pender, Derek Prendergast, Stephen Best, Lorcan Fitzgerald; Paddy Kavanagh, Eoin Wearen, Roberto Lopes, Keith Buckley, Jake Kelly (Dan Byrne '87); Mark Quigley (Kurtis Byrne '69).
Substitutes: Ian Morris, Marco Chindea, Dean O'Halloran.
Referee: Robert Rogers
