Cork City 2
Derry City 0
A PAIR OF early first-half goals set Cork City on their way as they ended their winless run by beating Derry City at Turner’s Cross last night.
Following successive league defeats to Dundalk and St Patrick’s Athletic, nothing less than a win would do for John Caulfield’s side and they laid the foundations early, despite a slowish start.
In the 14th minute, Billy Dennehy was pushed in the area by Shane McEleney under Brian Lenihan’s cross and Dennehy converted the penalty himself for his eighth goal of the season. Things got better for the hosts less than three minutes later as Gearóid Morrissey doubled the lead, firing a low shot in from 25 yards after Colin Healy’s free kick was cleared to him.
With Derry offering little in the way of attacking inventiveness, Cork were good for their half-time lead and it could have been more but a Dan Murray goal – after Ger Doherty had pushed Mark O’Sullivan’s header onto the crossbar – was ruled out for offside.
Early in the second half, O’Sullivan found the bar again while Ryan Curran did likewise at the other end, but by and large the pattern was the same as the first half, even if Cork’s defence was not always ultra-stable. It mattered little, however, as they got back on track in the title race.
CORK CITY: McNulty; Dunleavy, Murray, D Dennehy, Davoren; Lenihan, Healy, Kearney (Buckley 80), G Morrissey, B Dennehy; O’Sullivan.
DERRY CITY: Doherty; S McEleney (McNamee 80), Byrne, McBride, Barry; R Curran (Boyle 74), Molloy, McNamee, Ventre, Duffy; P McEleney.
Referee: R Rogers (Dublin).
