Derry City's winless run in the Premier Division is over after a 3-1 victory over Cork City at Turner’s Cross.
After successive defeats to Bohemians and Drogheda United; and a draw with Dundalk, Ruaidhrí Higgins team swept the Rebel Army away with Michael Duffy stealing the show with a goal and an assist.
He put in the ball for Ronan Boyce to head in the opener and Colm Whelan rounded off the win with an excellent finish at the St Anne’s End.
Tunde Owolabi did provide something for the home fans to cheer about in injury time at the Shed End.
For all of Derry’s dominance, City started the better of the two teams as they forced four corners in the opening 10 minutes.
The best of those went to Cian Coleman at the back post and his header was palmed away by Brian Maher. Coffey also ran through the centre and a low attempt from the midfielder was easily caught by the Derry goalkeeper.
The best the Candystripes could do during this spell was a run by Oliver O’Neill into the box and Ally Gilchrist easily won the ball back from the midfielder.
Their first actual shot was in the 23rd minute and it came from Boyce pulling clear of Jonas Hakkinen and hitting the ball narrowly wide at the Shed End.
Derry were all over City after this, but they couldn’t find a clear route to goal as Colin Healy brought everyone back.
City then broke through Ruairi Keating and his attempt was blocked into the path of Matt Healy and his effort got scrambled away by the Derry defence.
They went straight up the pitch from this and won a corner within 90 seconds. Duffy took this and Boyce headed in to give Derry the lead in the 38th minute.
City started out with a 4-4-2 formation after the break and the presence of Coffey alongside Keating caught Derry off guard in the opening 30 seconds of the second half.
He sprinted down the right ring and put a low into the box that Ethon Varian hit into the hands of Maher.
Things briefly slowed down after this, and they came back to life with Doherty lunging onto the ball to make sure it stayed in play on the left wing. He then sent it to Duffy and the winger curled a low ball into the bottom corner.
It was 2-0 on the hour mark and Derry were in total control. While City jabbed, they were throwing punches and deservedly two in front.
Whelan finished off a rapid counter attack late in the game, and the right boot of Owolabai gave City some consolation in the third minute of injury time.
Cork City: Jimmy Corcoran; Cian Coleman, Matt Healy, Ally Gilchrist, Aaron Bolger, Ruairi Keating, Barry Coffey (Tunde Owolabi 76), Josh Honohan, Ethon Varian (Joe O’Brien Whitmarsh 76), Cian Murphy (Daniel Krezic 51), Jonas Hakkinen.
Derry City: Brian Maher; Ronan Boyce, Michael Duffy (Colm Whelan 74), Ben Doherty, Sadou Diallo, Shane McEleney, Cameron McJanet, Ryan Graydon (Brandon Kavanagh 84), Oliver O’Neill (Matthew Ward 84), Adam O’Reilly, Cian Kavanagh (Ciaran Coll 74).
Referee: Robert Harvey
