League Report: Cork City 0 - 0 Shamrock Rovers

Cork City entertained Shamrock Rovers in Turner’s Cross on Friday night at the later time of 8pm due to the Shamrock Rovers bus getting delayed in heavy traffic on Cork’s South Link road causing a delay to the scheduled time of 7.45pm.

Cork City made two changes from the side that lost to St. Patrick’s Athletic on Tuesday night in the EA Sports Cup 5-3 on penalties with Kevin O’Connor and Dan Murray keeping their places in the starting 11 as manager John Caulfield decided to change things around for the visit of Rovers.

Manager Pat Fenlon did a similar rotation of playing resources for the trip to Leeside with Ryan Brennan the sole survivor from the team that beat Derry City 1-0 in the EA Sports Cup at the Brandywell last Tuesday night.

Before the game had even begun many in the media and online forums had expected the game to be very tight and this was to be the case for the opening 45 minutes

In the opening ten minutes both sides had a shot each as the battle for midfield supremacy was in full swing. Billy Dennehy saw his free kick on three minutes go narrowly wide while at the other end on seven minutes Simon Madden saw his cross to Michael Drennan headed from 10 yards but Mark McNulty was equal to it in the City goal.

Cork City were guilty some horrific passing and Rovers nearly capitalised on this on 14 minutes when Colin Healy saw his pass intercepted by Ryan Brennan who dribbled in a zig-zag style towards Darren Dennehy but his shot from 14 yards flew wide into the Shed end much to the relief of the home supporters.

Brandon Miele thought he had Rovers in front on 17 minutes when his shot from 35 yards was straight at the keeper but McNulty appeared to fumble it between his legs before recovering the situation before it worsened.

The game was a real tussle in the middle of the park with no quarter being given by either side as Liam Miller and Healy battle with Keith Fahey and Patrick Cregg for possession.

In the final ten minutes Rovers had a few chances to score but none found the target with Miele’s free kick from 20 yards going over the bar on 36 minutes while minutes later a long ball over the top ended in a foot race between Miele and Dan Murray for the ball but Miele won the race only to shoot into the side netting from inside the box.

In comparison to the first half the second half was much better with both sides testing out each other’s defences a lot more in comparison to the opening half.

On 54 minutes a Darren Dennehy sliding tackle stopped Rovers opening the lead as a nice one two between Madden and Drennan nearly allowed the ex-Lilywhite player shoot from well inside the box.

City went up the other end on 58 minutes as Holohan forced a corner and from the Dennehy’s corner it was headed across the goal by Mark O’Sullivan only to fall to brother Darren but he was unable to direct his shot past Hyland in the Rovers goal.

On 63 minutes the majority of the 4,138 supporters inside the famous ground were outraged with referee Paul Tuite as he waved, what appeared to be, a clear penalty away against O’Sullivan after the striker looked to be wrestled to the ground by the Rovers defenders.

Fahey had two chances to give Rovers the lead firstly on minutes as his ever rising drive from 20 yards as he drove it over and then City had Dennehy to thank again as he deflected the ex-Irish Internationals shot away for a corner.

On 82 minutes City won a free out wide and Healy’s delivery into the box found Garry Buckley’s head but the substitute could only crash it off the bar and over to share the spoils between these two sides who lost ground on leaders Dundalk who had a 2-0 victory over St. Pat’s to go six points clear at the top of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division

Cork City: Mark McNulty; John Kavanagh, Darren Dennehy, Dan Murray, Kevin O’Connor; Billy Dennehy (Ross Gaynor 81), Liam Miller, Colin Healy, Gavan Holohan (Garry Buckley 65), Karl Sheppard (Rob Lehane 81); Mark O’Sullivan.
Subs Not Used: Alan Smith (gk), John O’Flynn, Michael McSweeney, Liam Kearney.

Booked: None.

Shamrock Rovers: Craig Hyland, Simon Madden, Conor Kenna, Maxime Blanchard, Luke Byrne; Patrick Cregg, Keith Fahey; Gavin Brennan, Ryan Brennan (Gary McCabe 86), Brandon Miele; Michael Drennan (Kieran Waters 77).
Subs Not Used: Michael Kelly, Tim Clancy, Sean O’Connor, Gareth McCafferey, David O’Connor.

Booked: Cregg (67).

Referee: Paul Tuite (Dublin).

Attendance: 4,138

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Keith Fahey (Shamrock Rovers).