Cork City (FAI Cup)

Very decent effort from the Youths in Ferrycarrig tonight as they maintained their interest in the tie right till the end and only gave up the second killer goal with a few minutes to go. However, the Youths will rue the soft first goal conceded just before the whistle at the end of the first period. With Danny still missing and Lee Grace injured, Youths started with Ryan Delaney in at centre-half and went with Graham, Craig, Gary, Ryan, Jimmy, Peter, Craig, Eric, Andy, Conor and Rocks. Overall, the match yielded very few chances as the Youths kept their Premier Division opponents fairly quiet. However, Cork started well and, after two minutes, Holohan had a chance for Cork but was ruled offside which happened regularly for Cork. A minute later, Cork's best attacking option, Billy Dennehy broke free down the left and crossed but Sheppard headed over. On four minutes, the ball fell to Eric Molloy from a free for the Youth's first chance but he blazed over. On 14 minutes, the very impressive Rocks Keenan set up Eric again but this time he pulled his shot wide. On 18 minutes, Rocks had a great chance when the ball fell to him inside the box when Dan Murray got under a free but his first touch simply dropped the ball straight into McNulty's arms in the Cork goal.

On 19 minutes, Graham just managed to touch away another Cork effort on goal but again the Cork attacker was ruled offside in any event. With 22 minutes gone, the referee flashed two yellows for Cork and one to a Wexford player after a clash between a couple of players from either side after a foul on a Wexford player. One of the Cork yellows had been for wrestling a Wexford player to the ground. On 31 minutes, Rocks had the ball in the net for Wexford but was ruled offside and then, a minute later, Cork had the ball in the net but it was also ruled offside. Cork had two late chances when Dennehy had a good free about a foot over the bar and Sheppard volleyed over from a tight angle. Just when 0-0 seemed a fair reflection of the first period, Youths gave the ball away just inside their own third and the ball broke to Billy Dennehy who took a few paces and rifled one home low right to give Graham no chance for 1-0 to Cork. Perhaps a more savvy team might have been a bit more careful just coming up to the whistle. 1-0 to Cork at half-time.

Second period had relatively few chances as both sides cancelled each other out for long periods. However, on 14 minutes, Rocks expertly chested one down for Andy Mulligan whose volley was on target but McNulty was able to parry it away to keep the score at 1-0. Subs during this period for Cork were Ross Gaynor and Liam Kearney which resulted in Dennehy switching wings where he was not so much to the fore. With seven minutes to go in the second period, Drukie Drohan came on in place of Eric Molloy who limped off. Then, with five minutes to go in the game, a good cross from the right came into the Wexford penalty area where it found O'Sullivan free. His header was blocked by Graham from point-blank range, but it dropped kindly for the attacker who stabbed home the rebound for 2-0 to Cork and game finished a few minutes later. Best for Wexford were Rocks, Andy, Peter Higgins and the two centre-halves of Gary and Ryan Delaney who were untroubled for large periods of the game. For Cork, Billy Dennehy was the main creator down the left while Healy had plenty of the ball, but whenever the Youths could force Cork to play through the middle, they looked less effective. 2-0 to Cork at full-time with official attendance called at 393.

Good write up ForzaForth. Last night was my first visit to Ferrycarrig Park and I was very impressed with the setup. Youths acquitted themselves well in the game, very organised at the back, catching City offside on numerous occasions in the first half, and they passed the ball around well when given the chance. Fair play to the lads in the corner of the stand for singing throughout the game and creating an atmosphere. Thought there would have been a bigger crowd though with Youths going well in the league. Is the location of the ground in relation to the town a hindrance to attendances ?

Johnnie

Best of luck in the remainder of the cup. As far as the Youth's present crowds are concerned, I think it just reflects the difficulties faced by completely new start-up teams in producing good crowds as recent history shows such as Monaghan, Kilkenny, etc.

As far as the location is concerned, I don't think it has an effect being based a few miles outside Wexford. In addition, a site like that in or near Wexford town wouldn't have been available for any reasonable amount in 2005 (?) when Mick bought the site which eventually became Ferrycarrig park.