Road warriors Cork make it three wins on the spin

Shamrock Rovers 0

Cork City 2

CORK CITY CAPITALISED on the drawn game at Oriel Park tonight with a 2-0 win over Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght.

Mark O’Sullivan scored just after the start of the second half, and the impressive Gearoid Morrissey added a second in injury-time.

John Caulfield watched on as his team scooped their third successive away win, and he will surely be delighted with what he saw.

It may not have been Spain v Holland, but Cork’s approach in the opening 10 minutes somewhat resembled the Dutch approach in the 2010 World Cup Final.

Both John Dunleavy and Colin Healy picked up yellow cards in the first 11 minutes, and Dan Murray and Garry Buckley made their presence known with crunching tackles.

That being said, it was the visitors who looked more menacing when it came to attacking.

Mark O’Sullivan was winning his fair share of headers against both Conor Kenna and Simon Madden, and he set up Liam Kearney after 12 minutes, but the wide man failed to pick out a team-mate in the box

Garry Buckley then drilled a shot over the bar, and soon after that Brian Lenihan and Kearney worked the ball well on the right to Billy Dennehy

He delivered a floating cross to O’Sullivan who guided his header onto the roof of the net.

Rovers’ best chance of the opening half came with just four minutes remaining.

Kieran Marty-Waters drove up the left side and into the box before forcing Mark McNulty into a smart save low to his left.

The second half started with the Hoops winning their first corner-kick of the match, but they were to be undone shortly after that when Brian Lenihan drove to the line before pulling the ball back into the Shamrock Rovers box.

Garry Buckley got the slightest of touches before O’Sullivan arrived to smash the ball into the net for his fifth of the season.

Both Kearney and Billy Dennehy had further shots on their opponent’s goal and John Caufield’s side looked the more likely to score the next goal.

Trevor Croly introduced both Eamon Zayed and Dean Kelly, but neither made much of an impact

Meanwhile Buckley, who was exceptional for Cork, was forced off with an injury with a quarter of an hour left to play, which was a shame after he had such a good game.

The fouls continued as the contest entered its final stages, and when Conor Kenna was kicked by Healy five yards outside the Cork penalty area, Waters clipped the post with the resulting freekick.

That chance seemed to spark the homeside into life, and Madden set up Ryan Brennan at the back post, but Darren Dennehy somehow forced the ball over the bar on the line.

With the pressure continually increasing from Rovers, they were always going to be susceptible to the counter-attack, and after Healy had missed a great chance to make it 2-0, Morrissey finally converted after good work from Kavanagh and O’Sullivan.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Murphy, Madden, McGuinness, Cornwall, Brennan, Robinson (Bayly 73), Finn, O’Connor, Waters, Kilduff (Kelly 64). Substitutes: Hyland, O’Connor (Zayed 57), Osam, Bayly, Zayed, Sheppard, Kelly.

CORK CITY: McNulty, Dunleavy, D Dennehy, Morrisey, Healy, Murray, Lenihan, B Dennehy (Lehane 89), O’Sullivan, Buckley (Kavanagh 76), Kearney (O’Leary 64). Substitutes: Kavanagh, Turner, Morrissey, O’Leary, Lehane, O’Brien, Davoren.