Cork City 0
Shamrock Rovers 0
Stephen Barry reports from Turner’s Cross
CORK CITY ALMOST stole a late winner against newly crowned four-in-a-row champions Shamrock Rovers but had to settle for a scoreless draw in this dead-rubber contest.
In a match limping to a conclusion, City nearly took a momentum-building victory from their final home game of the season before a relegation play-off against either Waterford or Cobh Ramblers.
In the sole minute of stoppage time, Leon Pohls made a full-stretch save to deny Barry Coffey before flying through the air to tip away Andrii Kravchuk’s cross-shot.
The draw extended Rovers’ unbeaten run to 10 games even with a much-changed side in front of 2,854 fans at Turner’s Cross.
Stephen Bradley allowed his title winners to celebrate as he made 10 changes to their starting team. Captain Lee Grace was the only player retained as Bradley gave first League starts to Kieran Cruise, Simon Power, and Real Madrid-linked teenager Naj Razi.
City were without defenders Kevin Custovic and Jonas Hakkinen so John O’Donovan and Malik Dijksteel came in from the start.
They were overrun in the first half as Rovers exploited the open spaces in City’s midfield. The hosts’ only shot in the first half arrived in the second minute when Cian Coleman headed Cian Bargary’s deep cress straight at Pohls.
Ireland U21 international Tiernan Brooks continued in the City goal and he was busy right from the off, scrambling to save from Liam Burt and parrying away a Power free-kick. In between, a brilliant move from man of the match Conan Noonan and Aaron Greene played in Power to lob the stranded Brooks but it drifted just wide.
In all, Rovers created 10 shots in the opening half and nine of them came from either Power (five) or Burt (four).
Power fired over when teed up again by Greene, had another blocked by Josh Honohan, and fired his last straight at Brooks.
Burt was closed down once by Coleman but showed good feet next time to bobble an effort across the muddy goalmouth. Brooks was forced to push it behind with Greene loitering for a tap-in.
The trend continued into the second half. The dangerous Darragh Nugent had an attempt deflected behind before a cushioned Seán Hoare header should’ve been finished by Power. He was stretching to reach it, though, and couldn’t keep his shot down.
City finally began to get the league’s joint-top scorer Ruairí Keating involved and he had two chances within a minute. He rose highest to meet John O’Donovan’s cross but skewed his header off target. He then blazed a long-range sighter over the bar before a brilliant defensive header by Cruise denied Barry Coffey.
At the other end, Power had another shot blocked by Honohan and O’Donovan deflected a defensive corner into the side-netting.
Seán Gannon started Rovers’ next move by winning possession and he almost finished it too but for Brooks making a low save before denying Greene.
The game fizzled out in the final quarter, with Richie Holland handing a competitive debut to Sam Bailey at centre-back after Honohan went off injured.
They never looked threatened apart from a scuffed Cruise volley that was gobbled up by Brooks.
The late drama began with a corner-kick routine which almost gave City a breakthrough. Keating’s near-post flick was rolling perfectly to substitute Gordon Walker but Coleman took it off his toe. Tunde Owolabi’s eventual effort was off-target.
Then, Aaron Bolger’s hard work down the left created a brilliant chance for Coffey but Pohls reacted brilliantly to save.
Just as it looked over, Kravchuk slipped inside two defenders on the right and his cross almost drifted into the far corner but for Pohls’ finger-tip intervention.
Cork City: T Brooks; C Bargary (G Walker, 89), C Coleman, J Honohan (C Murphy, 71), J O’Donovan (S Bailey, 78); A Bolger, A Kravchuk; B Worman (T Owolabi, 78), B Coffey, M Dijksteel (C Drinan, 71); R Keating.
Shamrock Rovers: L Pohls; S Gannon (S Kavanagh, 86), S Hoare, L Grace; D Nugent, N Razi, C Noonan, L Burt (G Burke, 64), K Cruise; A Greene (R Gaffney, 64), S Power.
Ref: R Hennessy.