Derry City 2
Cork City 0
Simon Collins reports from the Ryan McBride Brandywell
TEENAGER TIERNAN MCGINTY came off the bench to score on his Derry City debut against Cork City and seal a precious first victory in five for the Candystripes.
Jamie McGonigle had earlier ended a 13-match barren spell as his close-range header in first-half stoppage time.
The win closed the gap on league leaders Shamrock Rovers to just four points heading into the top-of-the-table clash at Tallaght next Monday night.
It was far from convincing from Ruaidhri Higgins’ troops who hadn’t won at Brandywell since 19 May but his 50th win as Derry manager was a crucial one.
Cork were certainly the in-form team prior to the midseason break having won four of their last five while Derry welcomed the interval having taken just two points from a possible 12. The two-week hiatus didn’t appear to alter the form book as Cork looked sharp and enjoyed the better chances in the opening half.
O’Donovan volleyed wide from a Matthew Healy corner kick early on before Ruairi Keating was presented with a decent chance when he got onto the end of Healy’s cross into the box but the striker miscued his header from 10 yards.
Derry centre half Connolly breathed a sigh of relief when his header back to Brian Maher was intercepted by substitute Cian Murphy on 22 minutes. The frontman was only on the pitch a matter of seconds but he steered his strike wide of the mark with his first touch of the match as the City keeper put him under pressure on the edge of the penalty area.
Murphy almost made amends on 25 minutes when he raced past his marker before rifling the post with a powerful strike from a tight angle. The rebound fell to Kevin Custovic who fired narrowly wide of the target.
It was a decent spell for the Leesiders but Derry responded and Brandon Kavanagh dinked an effort narrowly over the crossbar on 35 minutes.
Kavanagh was in the thick of the action once again three minutes later when he played a neat pass into the path of McGonigle but he blazed high and wide at the near post.
Derry broke the deadlock in first-half stoppage time when Kavanagh dispossessed John O’Donovan on the right and crossed into the six yard box where McGonigle rose to guide his header into the corner of the net – his first goal since the 2-1 win against Rovers in Dublin back on 3 March.
Derry were fortunate to go in at the break for the advantage and they really should’ve been pegged back three minutes into the second half. Aaron Bolger was sent clean through on goal and with just the keeper to beat he poked the ball agonisingly wide of the post.
At the other end Jordan McEneff volleyed Graydon’s knockdown towards goal from 12 yards but Jimmy Corcoran did superbly to palm it to safety. Kavanagh found the feet of McGonigle on the edge of the box with a lovely pass and the City frontman switched onto his right foot but blasted over the crossbar.
Derry made certain of the three points in the 90th minute when teenage substitute McGinty pounced from close range after great work by Ben Doherty to mark a dream debut for the Donegal youngster.
Derry City: Maher; Boyce, McEleney, Connolly (Coll 77), McJannet; B. Kavanagh, Diallo, O’Reilly, Graydon (Doherty 64); McEneff (McGinty 84); McGonigle
Cork City: Corcoran; Walker, Coleman, Healy, Gilchrist, Owolabi (Murphy 21), Bolger (Coffey 74), Keating (Krezic 74), Honohan, O’Donovan, Custovic (Bargary 85)
Referee: David Dunne.