League Report: Longford Town 1 - 4 Cork City

Cork City travelled to the City Calling Stadium on Saturday night, looking to exorcise their European demons against a sixth place Longford Town. The home side certainly went into this game with confidence, having beaten high-flying Bohemians in their last home match, but goals from Steven Beattie, an own goal from Willie Tyrrell and one  each from Mark Sullivan and Karl Sheppard would give the Leesiders the spoils despite a late Dean Kelly effort.

The visiting side almost got the game off to a dream start on three minutes through a (perhaps) unlikely source. Captain Johnny Dunleavy broke down the right and after cutting inside he shaped to cross. The Longford defence rushed into the box but the ball found itself to Liam Miller at the edge of the area only for the former international to blaze over.

Longford certainly had plenty of the ball in the opening exchanges, however they could find no way through the meanest defence in the league; their best effort on 14 minutes when Dean Kelly saw his header deflected over by Dan Murray.

John Caulfield’s charges took the lead on 19 minutes, and it was the effervescent Steven Beattie who would grab a dream debut goal. Recently signed from Sligo Rovers, Beattie broke down the right and saw his cross headed out for City’s first corner of the game.

Fresh from signing a contract extension on Friday, full back Kevin O’Connor’s left footed inswinging corner landed on an unmarked Beattie’s forehead with expert precision. In space at the back post, the Dubliner couldn’t miss as he sent the travelling support into raptures with a smart finish.

With no competitive football in nine days, the Rebel Army certainly seemed to have been practicing their set pieces as yet again they made De Town pay from a corner on 22 minutes; just City’s third corner of the game.

Once again it was Kevin O’Connor with a left footed inswinging corner and Karl Sheppard was waiting at the back post this time to head the ball on target. Longford defender Willie Tyrrell looked well placed for the home side on the line, however he could only clear the ball onto his crossbar and into his net.

Tony Cousin’s men nearly went in with only a one goal deficit as they had their best chance of the half deep into added on time when former Shamrock Rovers left back Connor Powell found himself with space on the left. A pinpoint cross was met by the late run of Mark Salmon into the box, and his point blank save was saved by Mark McNulty.

The title challengers showed no signs of letting up when they came out and the second half was only five minutes old when they fashioned their first chance. It came from a ball over the top and Gavan Holohan, back in the team after ‘poor form’, raced in on goal and blasted a shot at Skinner in the Longford goal.

The Kilkenny native took the resulting corner and it was that man again, Steven Beattie, who found himself with space for a header only to see his effort saved.

Connor Powell nearly made the headlines on 57 minutes, but for the wrong reasons, when a mistimed (rather than malicious) late tackle on Beattie earned the game’s first (and only) yellow.  A bad foul, but in truth the lack of intent probably saw him stay on the pitch.

Having seen Tyrrell ‘steal’ his goal in the first half, Cork City’s Karl Sheppard was determined to get on the scoresheet and nearly did get his first and his side’s third on 65 minutes. A mistake by Rhys Gorman in the Longford defence saw the former Reading player go through one on one, but with only the keeper to beat his effort clipped the post and went wide.

As inevitable as a ‘Fast and the Furious’ sequel, Cork City sealed the win on 68 minutes. Garry Buckley picked the ball up in the centre and played a ball over the top with Sheppard (who looked offside) and Mark O’Sullivan running on. Sheppard, realising he might be offside appeared to halt his run and O’Sullivan raced passed a bemused defence to finish past Paul Skinner for his fourth league goal of the season.

Longford Town’s heads certainly didn’t drop and they showed why they are in the top half of the table as they continued to string nice passages together. It was one of these passages that resulted in their umpteenth corner on 71 minutes and it would afford them a great chance as Kevin O’Connor (the Longford one) saw his blasted effort deflected wide by an outrushing Karl Sheppard.

If there was any doubt about the result, it would evaporate on 87 minutes as Sheppard would finally score with his last touch of the game. The impressive Liam Miller weighted a beautiful ball through to the former Shamrock Rovers striker and as Paul Skinner rushed off the Longford line, Sheppard slotted the ball under him for his ninth league game of the season; the perfect finish to his game as he was replaced by Cork City debutant Connor Ellis.

As the game petered out, Longford kept going and got the goal their play deserved on 92 minutes as Dean Kelly shot from distance into the top left corner of Mark McNulty’s goal; leaving the Ballincollig native with no chance from 25 yards.

And so, it was an impressive win for Cork City as they kept the pressure on Dundalk at the top of the table. If John Caulfield is under pressure, he certainly didn’t show it as he guided his side to a comfortable win. For the visitors, the scoreline probably doesn’t reflect how much they were in the game. Next up for them is the visit of Drogheda United next Saturday night.

Longford Town: Paul Skinner; Jamie Mulhall, William Tyrrell, Rhys Gorman, Connor Powell; Aymen Ben Mohamed (Kaleem Simon 81), Mark Salmon, Kevin O’Connor, Jack Doherty (Lorcan Shannon 56); Dean Kelly, Gary Shaw (David O’Sullivan 81).

Subs not used: Paul Hunt (gk), Martin Deady, Mark Rossiter.

Booked: Powell (57).

Cork City: Mark McNulty; John Dunleavy, Alan Bennett, Dan Murray, Kevin O’Connor; Liam Miller, Gavan Holohan, Garry Buckley; Steven Beattie (Liam Kearney 84), Mark O’Sullivan (Danny Morrissey 80), Karl Sheppard (Connor Ellis 87).

Subs not used: Alan Smith (gk), John O’Flynn, Michael McSweeney, Conor McCarthy.

Referee: Derek Tomney.

Attendance: 602.

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Steven Beattie (Cork City).