O'Flynn does his bit again

Cork City 2 Finn Harps 0

11/09/02: Two goals in a glorious, 10-minute spell in the closing quarter gave Cork City an exciting win over Finn Harps in the quarter-final replay of the FAI Carlsberg Cup at Turner's Cross last night.

Cork's scoring burst came as a surprise in a match which was always tightly contested, and Harps were rather hard done by the final score.

Harps were always in with a chance until the free-scoring John O'Flynn showed his quality by claiming his 12th goal in 10 matches with 20 minutes left to play.

And Harps' attempted comeback was cut short when man of the match Colin O'Brien scored a superb solo goal in the 79th minute.

The rain that fell heavily throughout the match was a drawback, but with the backing of an estimated 4,000 fans Cork managed to play some effective football and always carried more threat in attack.

Yet it was not until manager Liam Murphy introduced James Mulligan as substitute in the 67th minute that Cork penetrated the Harps defence.

Mulligan's first touch was a cross from the right wing which O'Flynn drove against the butt of an upright.

Immediately Cork stepped up their game and it was Mulligan who took advantage of a quick throw from O'Brien for another right-wing cross which was headed over goalkeeper Alan Young by O'Flynn.

Harps gambled in an attempt to retrieve the situation, but as they threw players forward so they were caught on the break. O'Brien intercepted on the halfway line and ran clear to finish superbly over the head of the goalkeeper in the 79th minute.

CORK CITY: Devine; Carey, Bennett, Cronin, Mulconry (Mulligan 67), O'Brien, O'Halloran, Reynolds, Woods, O'Flynn, O'Callaghan.

FINN HARPS: Young; R Kenny, Boyle, Bradley, Minnock, J Kenny, Lloyd, McGrenaghan, Bonner (Sweeney 77), Speak, McHugh.

Referee: D McKeon (Dublin).