Dundalk – Cork City

Recap

An injury time goal denied Cork City a share of the spoils at Oriel Park tonight.

City started the game quite brightly but the home side began to get control of things after the opening ten minutes. Dundalk had much the better of possession, but in terms of chances, there was little between the sides; a McNamee strike from distance just before the half hour was probably City’s best chance of the opening period.

The home side came closer ten minutes before the break, as Benson drove forward but he shot narrowly over from distance. Two minutes before half time came the best chance yet, as a corner found the head of
Hoban but he couldn’t find the target.

Having weathered some good spells from the home side, City fell behind within a minute of the restart as Adorjan beat McNulty to put the home side ahead.

On the hour, City made a double substitution with O’Hanlon and Sheppard replacing Cummins and Keohane, and the impact was almost immediate. City won a couple of corners in quick succession and Alan Bennett swung in a cross to find O’Hanlon who headed home to level.

The equaliser saw the momentum swing towards City and they began to push forward. They had a real chance to hit the front with a quarter of an hour remaining when Karl Sheppard burst clear but his shot clipped the outside of the post and went wide.

Heading into the final five minutes, both sides sought to grab the all important winner and it was the home side who did so. A cross from the left was set to fall for the onrushing Hoban, but it deflected to the net off Sean McLoughlin with the striker set to pounce. City threw everything forward in the final moments but were unable to level for a second time.