Cork City 3
Derry City 0
Paul Dollery reports from Turner’s Cross
CORK CITY HAVE yet to taste defeat this season but tonight’s performance against Derry City at Turner’s Cross was their most impressive yet.
Dundalk can restore their four-point lead at the top when they go to Limerick tomorrow, but the Leesiders closed the gap between themselves and the champions to the minimum with a 3-0 win, thanks to a brace from Karl Sheppard that followed John O’Flynn’s opener.
Derry City boss Peter Hutton kept faith with the side that defeated Drogheda United last weekend, while the hosts made one change from their win over Bray Wanderers, as John Caulfield drafted Garry Buckley into midfield at the expense of Dan Murray.
With a strong wind behind them as they attacked the Shed End, Cork were completely dominant throughout the first-half and came close to hitting the front inside the opening five minutes.
Billy Dennehy’s in-swinging free-kick from the right found his brother Darren lurking at the back-post. He directed the ball back across the face of goal towards John O’Flynn, but Derry defender Ryan McBride prevented a certain goal with a crucial interception.
However, the home side did hit the front in the 16th minute. Ross Gaynor made a good run down the left-wing, before sending in a low cross that O’Flynn converted from close range to score his first goal of the season.
Cork almost doubled their lead on the half-hour mark after a neat interchange of passes between Liam Miller and Garry Buckley. Miller followed up with a superb strike from distance — reminiscent of his one goal for the Republic of Ireland against Sweden in Steve Staunton’s first game in charge — but Gerard Doherty made an excellent save. The rebound fell to O’Flynn who could only find the side netting.
Just over a minute later, captain John Dunleavy also tested Doherty when he cut in from the left and unleashed a good strike that the Derry goalkeeper pushed over the crossbar.
With the visitors struggling to find their way into the opposing third, Cork’s dominance continued as Alan Bennett had a header cleared off the line from a corner — although a free-kick was awarded against Cork nevertheless — and Ross Gaynor missed the target with a speculative half-volley.
It was a tough 45 minutes for Derry City and Peter Hutton would have settled for a one-goal deficit at half-time, but the second goal that John Caulfield’s side deserved came with just a minute of normal time remaining before the break.
Billy Dennehy’s corner from the right was headed towards goal by Darren Dennehy and Karl Sheppard provided the final touch to give Cork a 2-0 interval lead.
Derry made a slightly more encouraging start to the second-half but it was Cork who had the first real chance early on, as John O’Flynn volleyed narrowly wide from Billy Dennehy’s cross.
Derry had their first attempt on target in the 57th minute when Philip Lowry’s shot from 25 yards out was comfortably saved by Cork goalkeeper Mark McNulty.
The Candystripes looked capable of threatening on the break, but their hopes of a comeback ended in the 69th minute when Garry Buckley’s cross from the right found Sheppard and he netted his second of the evening with a sweet volley.
Substitute Cillian Morrison went close to pulling one back for Derry shortly afterwards but he headed Barry McNamee’s delivery just over.
Patrick McEleney struck the crossbar with a long-range effort in added time, but Cork escaped with their fifth consecutive clean sheet.
CORK CITY: Mark McNulty; John Kavanagh, Alan Bennett, Darren Dennehy, Ross Gaynor; John Dunleavy, Liam Miller; Billy Dennehy (Kieran Djilali, 73), Garry Buckley (Gavan Holohan, 88), Karl Sheppard; John O’Flynn (Danny Morrissey, 83).
DERRY CITY: Gerard Doherty; Shane McEleney, Ryan McBride, Shaun Kelly, Aaron Barry; Patrick McEleney, Barry McNamee, Philip Lowry, Seanan Clucas (Cillian Morrison, 69), Mark Timlin (Sean Houston, 83); Anthony Elding (Ryan Curran, 80).
Referee: Robert Harvey.
Man-of-the-match: Liam Miller.
