Cork City 1
Derry City 1
DERRY CITY FINISHED in seventh place in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division after Oluwaseun Akintunde struck a 75th-minute equaliser at Turner’s Cross on Monday night.
The Candystripes went into the final round of league fixtures with a chance of finishing in ninth place, which would have necessitated a promotion/relegation play-off. But with Shelbourne trailing against Shamrock Rovers, they looked safe even when they went 1-0 down to Beineón O’Brien-Whitmarsh’s goal for Cork City in the 59th minute.
In any case, the visitors eased any lingering worries as Akintunde headed home the loose ball after Adam Hammill’s cross intended for Walter Figueira had been cut out by the home side’s Ronan Hurley.
Derry might even have won the game late on as Hammill – a constant threat, especially after moving to the left flank in the second half – pulled back for former Cork captain Conor McCormack but his side-footed effort went across the face of goal and narrowly wide.
While the home side were guaranteed to finish bottom of the table no matter what happened there, Colin Healy’s team were keen to finish on a high before their drop to the first division for the 2021 season. They almost had the lead early in the first half as centre-back Jake O’Brien slid to divert home a Kevin O’Connor free kick but he was narrowly offside.
Cian Bargary and O’Brien-Whitmarsh worked hard in attack for the Rebel Army but Derry had the better chances in the first half and Conor Clifford almost put them ahead just after the half-hour when his long-range shot hit the post and bounced clear.
Ciarán Coll went close for Derry with a header before half-time and Figueira had a shot deflected wide after the resumption but when the goal came it was for Cork City, O’Brien-Whitmarsh finishing well from captain Gearóid Morrissey’s pass. Bargary had opportunities to make it 2-0 but Derry regrouped and finished well, with Akintunde ensuring they took something from the game.
CORK CITY: Mark McNulty; Henry Ochieng, Jake O’Brien, Kevin O’Connor, Ronan Hurley; Cian Coleman, Alec Byrne, Gearóid Morrissey; Dylan McGlade (Dale Holland 84), Beineón O’Brien-Whitmarsh (Cian Murphy 84), Cian Bargary.
DERRY CITY: Peter Cherrie; Jack Malone, Eoin Toal, Cameron McJannet, Ciarán Coll; Joe Thomson (Gerardo Bruna 54), Conor McCormack, Conor Clifford; Adam Hammill, Oluwaseun Akintunde, Walter Figueira (Ciaron Harkin 81).
Referee: Seán Grant (Wexford).
