Shamrock Rovers 3
Cork City 0
SHAMROCK ROVERS INFLICTED a first away league defeat of the season on Cork City tonight in Tallaght Stadium thanks to goals from Gavin Brennan, Danny North and Brandon Miele.
The comfortable win also allowed Pat Fenlon to hand Damien Duff his debut on a night when the Hoops put in one of their best performances of the season.
Brennan’s header towards the end of the first half came after he had already hit the post with a quarter of an hour played, while Max Blanchard had the first chance of the night when he forced Mark McNulty into an impressive save.
Fenlon chose the same starting XI as on Friday when his side overcame Longford, while Cork made three changes to the team that lost to Limerick, and they took their time to settle in Tallaght.
However, the visitors were gifted the opportunity to take the lead when Steven Beattie gathered a loose Gary McCabe pass after half an hour, but the former Bohs man drove his strike just wide.
McCabe certainly redeemed himself for that mistake just before Rovers took the lead, clearing Alan Bennett’s header off the goal line, and Barry Murphy was alive to another header from the defender at the start of the second half, tipping the ball over the crossbar.
Rovers assumed control once again after that thanks to McCabe and Blanchard who were getting the better of Cork’s midfield, and when Drennan chased down what appeared to be a lost cause, he cut the ball back for North to head in at the near post.
Cork looked short on ideas for a team that were unbeaten on the road in the league before tonight, and when Miele scored late on, Fenlon summoned Duff from the bench to rapturous applause from the home crowd.
Shamrock Rovers: Murphy, Madden, Webster, Kenna, Byrne, Blanchard, Brennan, Miele (Duff, 90), McCabe, Drennan, North (McCaffrey, 84).
Cork City: McNulty, Kavanagh (Healy, 78), Bennett (Dennehy, 61), Murray, Gaynor (O’Connell, 61), O’Connor, Sheppard, Beattie, Miller, O’Sullivan, Buckley.
– First published 21.06, 17 August
