CORK CITY’S U19 side saw their Uefa Youth League campaign brought to an end this afternoon in Italy.
Trailing 3-1 from the first leg at Turner’s Cross earlier this month, the Leesiders were beaten 1-0 by Roma in today’s return fixture at Tre Fontane.
Roma will now progress to the next stage, while City — who defeated HJK Helsinki of Finland in the first round — will bow out of the competition but with their heads held high.
A crowd of over 3,000 turned out for the first leg at the Cross three weeks ago, when City were unfortunate to suffer a two-goal defeat.
Roma were aided by a missed penalty from Aaron Drinan — who had equalised for City earlier in the game — which would have given the hosts a 2-1 second-half lead.
The visitors scored twice in the last five minutes of the game to bring a valuable cushion into today’s second leg in the Italian capital.
Once again, City were by no means out of their depth this afternoon, although they almost found themselves 1-0 down as early as the sixth minute but goalkeeper David Coffey managed to deny Sidy Coly.
Kevin Taylor tested Lorenzo Crisanto in the Roma goal but the home side enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession, with Edoardo Soleri going closest when he headed off the crossbar in the 22nd minute.
City had a chance to score against the run of play when Crisanto parried a shot from Drinan, but the Roma goalkeeper was able to react quickly enough to prevent Alec Byrne from capitalising on the rebound.
The Leesiders saw more of the ball in the second half but their hopes of clawing back the hosts’ lead were dashed in the 61st minute. Coffey managed to make another excellent save from a header from Coly, but the Roma attacker fired home at the second time of asking.
City continued to chase a goal, however, with Denzil Fernandes going close with a volley that struck the crossbar in the 79th minute. Nevertheless, Roma saw out the win in spite of a brave performance from Stephen Bermingham’s youngsters.
