Rosenborg 3
Cork City 0
(Rosenborg win 5-0 on aggregate)
THE INTEREST OF SSE Airtricity League clubs in Europe has ended for another season after Cork City were comprehensively beaten by Rosenborg tonight at Lerkendal Stadion.
Having suffered a 2-0 defeat to the Norwegian champions last week at Turner’s Cross, John Caulfield’s side went down 3-0 in the second leg in Trondheim as they failed to score for the sixth consecutive European game.
The 5-0 aggregate defeat was the club’s heaviest since a 6-0 loss to Slavia Prague in 1994. The Irish champions found themselves in the third qualifying round of the Europa League after losing 4-0 on aggregate to Legia Warsaw in the Champions League last month.
Rosenborg had doubled their advantage by half-time this evening thanks to goals from Besim Serbecic and Alexander Søderlund. A 58th-minute Anders Trondsen strike rounded off the scoring on a comfortable night for the hosts in front of a 8,028 crowd.
In spite of the eventual outcome, City made a promising start as they looked to overturn the two-goal deficit. Jimmy Keohane and Conor McCormack both had long-range efforts in the early stages, before Karl Sheppard drilled the ball across the face of goal after some good work down the right by the outstanding Steven Beattie.
As the game approached the end of the first quarter, Rosenborg took control and the opening goal of the night arrived in the 26th minute. Serbecic volleyed home after Mark McNulty punched Mike Jensen’s cross into the path of the Bosnian defender.
Rosenborg continued to dictate the play and they increased their substantial lead on 34 minutes. Birger Meling released Trondsen down the left and he cut the ball back for Søderlund, who tapped it home from close range.
Kieran Sadlier came close to getting City on the scoreboard when his free-kick struck the post with five minutes of the second half played, but McNulty was beaten again just moments later when Trondsen finished emphatically following some impressive link-up play between Meling and Nicklas Bendtner.
Garry Buckley struck the crossbar in the 68th minute as City sought to bring an end to their barren spell, but Rosenborg managed to keep another clean sheet as they progressed to a tie against Macedonian champions KF Shkëndija in the play-off round.
It was a dismal night for Cork City, who now turn their attentions to Sunday evening’s Premier Division clash with St Patrick’s Athletic at Turner’s Cross.
CORK CITY: Mark McNulty; Steven Beattie, Damien Delaney, Sean McLoughlin, Shane Griffin; Conor McCormack, Gearoid Morrissey (Barry McNamee, HT); Jimmy Keohane, Garry Buckley (Johnny Dunleavy, 74), Kieran Sadlier; Karl Sheppard (Ronan Coughlan, 72).
ROSENBORG: André Hansen; Vegar Hedenstad (Erlend Dahl Reitan, 73), Besim Serbecic, Tore Reginiussen, Birger Meling; Marius Lundemo, Anders Trondsen (Anders Konradsen, 60); Jonathan Levi (Pål André Helland, 60), Mike Jensen, Nicklas Bendtner; Alexander Søderlund.
Referee: Mads-Kristoffer Kristoffersen (Denmark).
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