Cork City took advantage of title rival Dundalk FC's weekend off to leap above them in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division table thanks to a 2-1 victory over Waterford FC in the Munster derby at the RSC tonight.
Noel Hunt's opener was in vain as goals from Garry Buckley and Graham Cummins ensured than Cork kept the pressure on the Lilywhites, who have two games in hand over the defending champions, while inflicting a third straight defeat on the Blues.
Alan Reynolds made three changes from the starting eleven that lost away to Limerick with Rory Feely slotting in for the suspended David Webster, while the return of Mark McNulty between the sticks was John Caulfield's sole change from the side who downed Bray last week.
The keeper was called into action in the opening stages to block Izzy Akinade's low effort from a narrow angle and Karl Sheppard had a similar effort saved by Matthew Connor at the other end having latched on to an underhit Feely backpass.
The game was being played at a rapid pace and Waterford should have taken the lead midway through the opening half when Bastien Hery found Stanley Aborah in space via an outside the boot pass. The midfielder found full-back Dylan Barnett in the box before McNulty did well to keep out Gavan Holohan's effort following the pullback.
Steven Beattie and Barry McNamee couldn't grab the opener with ambitious efforts, but former international Noel Hunt made no mistakes for Waterford on the half hour mark. Deemed onside, he latched onto Rory Feely's long-pass and turned in from the left, cutting the ball through Sean McLoughlin's legs and beyond the helpless keeper to give the Blues the lead.
The lead lasted less than a minute however. Graham Cummins got onto the end of Beattie's ball in behind before putting it into Buckley's path. Having composed himself following Paul Keegan's attempted challenge, he slotted the ball into the net for the equaliser.
Both sides had opportunities to go into the break ahead - Akinade and Holohan for the home side while Keohane and Buckley couldn't hit the target with right footed attempts.
The visitors started the brighter side after the break and took the lead within ten minutes. Barnett's mishit cross-field ball arrived at McNamee's feet deep into the City half and Buckley unleashed a stinging effort on target at the end of the counter. Connor however could only palm the ball into the path of Cummins who looped the ball over the keeper and into the net.
While there were huge pockets of space in midfield throughout the first half, the defending champions showed their experience by expertly seeing the game out once they had taken the lead. While they were happy to keep their solid shape and wait for counter attacking opportunities, the home side were forced to resort to long-balls and attacks from out wide.
Akinade attempted to unsettle the backline by accelerating outside McLoughlin, Aborah tried to carve out an opening and Duffus had a header deflected wide, but Caulfield's men successfully quelled their opponents attacks and deservedly claimed the three points.
Waterford FC: Matthew Connor; Dessie Hutchinson, Rory Feely, Kenny Browne, Dylan Barnett (Comerford, 75); Paul Keegan (C) (Duffus, 66); Stanley Aborah, Bastien Hery; Gavan Holohan (Puri, 75); Izzy Akinade, Noel Hunt.
Substitutes: Niall Corbett (GK), Noe Baba, Garry Comerford, Sander Puri, Courtney Duffus, John Martin, Carlos Wilson.
Cork City: Mark McNulty; Steven Beattie, Damien Delaney, Sean McLoughlin, Shane Griffin; Conor McCormack (C), Jimmy Keohane; Barry McNamee (Sadlier, 88), Garry Buckley, Karl Sheppard (Bennett, 90); Graham Cummins (O'Hanlon, 83).
Substitutes: Peter Cherrie (GK), Alan Bennett, Aaron Barry, Gearoid Morrissey, Kieran Sadlier, Josh O'Hanlon, Ronan Coughlan.
Referee: Neil Doyle
Attendance: 3,287
