A Ruairi Keating goal snapped Cork City’s six-game losing streak by giving them a 1-0 victory over Sligo Rovers at Turner’s Cross.
With only one win between these two teams in the month of May, the tempo of the game was often slow as they tried to navigate the fixture while not taking any risks.
Cork City played with a 3-5-2 that had Gordon Walker and John O’Donovan playing as full-backs. Sligo’s 4-2-3-1 struggled to penetrate this, and the Bit O’Red resorted to high pressing through Kailin Barlow and Will Fitzgerald.
City’s reserve paid off in the form of a through ball from Joe O’Brien Whitmarsh that landed at the feet of Keating, and the striker fired in with 15 minutes on the clock.
Ruairi Keating's sixth goal of the season has Cork City in front v Sligo Rovers!
— League of Ireland (@LeagueofIreland) May 19, 2023
That turn and pass by O'Brien-Whitmarsh 👌#LOI | #CORSLI pic.twitter.com/B1UeZiFSPH
It was a moment that seemed to catch everyone off guard, and Sligo brushed this off by winning a free-kick from the restart. Barlow sent this in and the ball went out for a corner that came to nothing at the Shed End.
Sligo got the ball to Kailin Barlow twice during this spell of the game, and each time he had no room to shoot inside the area.
City closed out the first half with a flurry of chances, with the pick of the bunch coming from a free-kick that Tunde Owolabi won on the left hand side. Keating got onto this at the back post and hit the cross bar.
Sligo opened up the second half with a free that Fabrice Hartmann sent in, and Keating headed this away for City. They quickly broke up the pitch and this ended with Keating shooting wide.
The Bit O’Red enjoyed a lot more of the ball after this, and they used this to set up David Cawley and Hartmann inside the area. Jimmy Corcoran was in the right place to stop the ball on both occasions.
The only thing that the home side created during this period was a free-kick that Matt Healy sent in, and Greg Bolger swatted this away.
Things cooled off after this, as Sligo had the ball and City defended deep inside their own half. They came out of their shell in the final 15 minutes, with Keating twisting free and seeing a shot blocked by a clamouring Sligo defence. Owolabi got into a similar position at the Shed End and hit the side netting.
The only source of frustration for the Leesiders was the dismissal of Healy in the second minute of injury time. They still hung in with ten men to get the three points.
Cork City: Jimmy Corcoran; Gordon Walker (Daniel Krezic 80), Matt Healy, Tunde Owolabi, Aaron Bolger, Ruairi Keating, Darragh Crowley, John O’Donovan, Kevin Custovic, Jonas Hakkinen, Joe O’Brien Whitmarsh (Barry Coffey, 76).
Sligo Rovers: Luke McNicholas; Johan Brannefalk, Reece Hutchinson, Greg Bolger, Will Fitzgerald, Niall Morahan, Frank Liivak (Daniel Lafferty 76), Stefan Radosavljevic (David Cawley 45), John Mahon, Nando Pijnaker, Kailin Barlow (Fabrice Hartmann, 45).
Referee: David Dunne
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