Full-timefrom the Brandywell
Derry City 1-0 Cork City
(thanks to Rebel for making the trip, and providing updates)
City begin with their 5-3-2/3-5-2 formation:
Quarter of an hour in and Cork City concede another early goal, against the run of play, as Tommy McCallion shoots home from the edge of the box.
Derry have hit the post with Devine stranded.
Derry have dubious claims for a penalty waved away just before half-time.
Alan Bennett replaces Napier.
Colin P O'Brien comes on for the injured Mulligan.
City nearly grab an equaliser, but the ball is cleared off the line.
Noel Hartigan replaces Morley.
City Team: Michael Devine, Alan Carey, Decky Daly, Derek Coughlan, Stephan Napier, Neal Horgan, Kelvin Flanagan, Ollie Cahill, Conor O'Grady, James Mulligan, Pat Morley.
Report From The Other City Fan At The Game
We started brightly and Morley was inspirational in his link up play with Mulligan. They seemed to have an understanding reminiscent of the famous Morley Caulfield days. Against the run of play McCallion struck low and hard on 14 minutes to the left of a diving Devine who, to be fair, was unlucky not to reach it. Derry came more into the game after the goal and were determined to exploit our lack of pace at the back. We needed Napier to be on top of his game but I fear that lack of match fitness was always against him. The introduction of Bennett for the second half was a patch for that sore. Derry took the initiative at the start of the second half but after some nervy moments at the back Cork settled again and began to build up a bit of steam. Then a rash challenge on Mulligan forced Murphy into another change. Mulligan tracked back for a ball in the middle of the Cork half, which he had no right to win, but he did and got a heavy knock on his ankle for his troubles. O'Brien came on enthused but unfortunately didn't share the same understanding with Morley as Mulligan did. Some great work from Horgan and Carey helped Cork to push up as Derry sat back and tried everything to waste time. Morely didn’t fist the ball into the net despite what RTÉ might say. The offence was for the way he controlled the ball. He took the ball high on his chest and may have used his arm. In another incident the Cork players were adamant that the ball had crossed the line. Where I was situated I was unable to say for sure. Morely seemed to tire from his hard work and was replaced
by a very determined Noel Hartigan who had a few nice touches and worked hard to get Cork back in the game. His commitment couldn’t be questioned and his football could hardly be faulted. As the game went on Ollie Cahill began to feature but never really showed any creativity. Alan Carey on the other hand was full of ideas and put in some of the sweetest crosses I’ve seen this season. All in all Cork played the better football but atrocious officiating destroyed the game. Cahill is the only one I would seriously have any questions about. We deserved something from the game but that’s football. We will recover. This defeat wasn’t another Dundalk it was more like UCD without the equaliser.
