Cork City 2 - 2 Wexford Youths
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Tom Elmes rained on Cork City’s promotion parade as his injury time goal earned Wexford Youths a share of the spoils at Turner’s Cross on Friday night.
For the second time in a week French midfielder Vincent Escudé-Candau gave City a 2-1 lead from the penalty spot with his 88th minute strike but they conceded two minutes later to end a very frustrating night on Leeside for the home side.
Tiredness was certainly a factor for Cork and they conceded a very soft goal with Elmes poking home with his first touch to the delight of Mick Wallace’s team.
Rewind back an hour and a half and it all looked very ominous as the home team continued where they left off from their heroics eight and four days previous.
After a rampant start, Tommy Dunne’s men went into the lead within seven minutes and should have been out of sight by the break. Still, a failure to convert the numerous opportunities they created proved to be a major problem.
Derek O’Brien was taken down 25 yards from goal and Danny Murphy swung his left-foot through the ball, laying it on a platter for Graham Cummins who carefully headed back across goal and into the bottom left corner.
While City have dominated many games on their own turf this year, perhaps none were as one-sided as the first half here. They spurned several glorious chances to rack up a cricket score in the opening half hour and only for the heroics of Youths keeper Patrick Holden, the Noel O’Connor managed side wouldn’t have had any chance of claiming a share of the spoils.
Vinny Sullivan should have chalked his name on the scoreboard on more than one occasion and on another day he could have been on for his hat-trick inside the first 20 minutes. He wasted a sitter after only two minutes with the game scoreless, while other attempts on the 9th, 14th and 19th minute fell into the hands of busy Wexford stopper Holden.
He single-handedly kept Youths in a with a fighting chance, pulling off stops from the very lively wide duo of Daryl Horgan and Derek O’Brien, with Kalen Spillane crashing a header off the bar on the half-hour mark.
Wexford rarely threatened in the opening period, though City stopper Mark McNulty did have to tip Danny Furlong’s effort over the bar. They were a different side after the break though, Greg Yelverton had a good chance five minutes after the break when his low-drive was met by the palm of McNulty’s right hand.
But then something strange happened. The home team fell asleep, clearly after exerting themselves too much in reaching the EA Sports Cup final as well as the defeat over Shelbourne last Friday, and Wexford transformed themselves into a completely different team to the one that stuttered through the opening period. Dean Broaders’ corner was headed just wide by the lively Furlong, while Ben Ryan clipped a free-kick over.
Youths, though, drew level on 62 minutes through Furlong. Shane Dempsey had just been introduced for Yelverton and with his first touch he cut the home side’s defence open and Furlong ran onto the ball, held off his marker before sliding a pinpoint effort past McNulty.
And despite being so far off the pace in the first-half, they deserved to be level as City failed to impress after the break. They actually had the better share of possession for much of the second period, leaving the home team frustrated.
It looked like it would finish 1-1, but when Holden, who was impeccable otherwise, dragged down Ian Turner inside the area, City looked like taking all three points when Escudé-Candau struck into the right side of the net.
Nobody explained that script to Youths though and less than two minutes after falling behind they were level again through Elmes after City failed to clear the danger.
Danny Morrissey and Cummins were both unlucky deep in injury-time but in the end the draw was the fairest result.
Cork City: Mark McNulty; Ian Turner, Gavin Kavnagh, Kalen Spillane (Danny Morrissey, 80mins), Danny Murphy; Daryl Horgan, Shane Duggan (Gearóid Morrissey, 86mins), Greg O’Halloran, Derek O’Brien; Graham Cummins, Vinny Sullivan (Vincent Esucdé-Candau, 62mins).
Subs not used: Craig Burns, James McCarthy, Cathal Lordan, Eoin McGreevy.
Wexford Youths: Patrick Holden; Shane Nolan, Karl Keogh, Martin Kehoe, Dean Broaders; Ben Ryan, Greg Yelverton (Shane Dempsey, 62mins), Craig Wall, Darragh Walshe, Robert Vickers (Dave Grincell, 78mins); Danny Furlong.
Subs not used: Muzzy Mullen, Mark Phelan, Tom Elmes, Eoin Kinsella.
Referee: Kevin O’Regan.
ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Patrick Holden.
Official attendance: 2081.
For the second time in a week French midfielder Vincent Escudé-Candau gave City a 2-1 lead from the penalty spot with his 88th minute strike but they conceded two minutes later to end a very frustrating night on Leeside for the home side.
Tiredness was certainly a factor for Cork and they conceded a very soft goal with Elmes poking home with his first touch to the delight of Mick Wallace’s team.
Rewind back an hour and a half and it all looked very ominous as the home team continued where they left off from their heroics eight and four days previous.
After a rampant start, Tommy Dunne’s men went into the lead within seven minutes and should have been out of sight by the break. Still, a failure to convert the numerous opportunities they created proved to be a major problem.
Derek O’Brien was taken down 25 yards from goal and Danny Murphy swung his left-foot through the ball, laying it on a platter for Graham Cummins who carefully headed back across goal and into the bottom left corner.
While City have dominated many games on their own turf this year, perhaps none were as one-sided as the first half here. They spurned several glorious chances to rack up a cricket score in the opening half hour and only for the heroics of Youths keeper Patrick Holden, the Noel O’Connor managed side wouldn’t have had any chance of claiming a share of the spoils.
Vinny Sullivan should have chalked his name on the scoreboard on more than one occasion and on another day he could have been on for his hat-trick inside the first 20 minutes. He wasted a sitter after only two minutes with the game scoreless, while other attempts on the 9th, 14th and 19th minute fell into the hands of busy Wexford stopper Holden.
He single-handedly kept Youths in a with a fighting chance, pulling off stops from the very lively wide duo of Daryl Horgan and Derek O’Brien, with Kalen Spillane crashing a header off the bar on the half-hour mark.
Wexford rarely threatened in the opening period, though City stopper Mark McNulty did have to tip Danny Furlong’s effort over the bar. They were a different side after the break though, Greg Yelverton had a good chance five minutes after the break when his low-drive was met by the palm of McNulty’s right hand.
But then something strange happened. The home team fell asleep, clearly after exerting themselves too much in reaching the EA Sports Cup final as well as the defeat over Shelbourne last Friday, and Wexford transformed themselves into a completely different team to the one that stuttered through the opening period. Dean Broaders’ corner was headed just wide by the lively Furlong, while Ben Ryan clipped a free-kick over.
Youths, though, drew level on 62 minutes through Furlong. Shane Dempsey had just been introduced for Yelverton and with his first touch he cut the home side’s defence open and Furlong ran onto the ball, held off his marker before sliding a pinpoint effort past McNulty.
And despite being so far off the pace in the first-half, they deserved to be level as City failed to impress after the break. They actually had the better share of possession for much of the second period, leaving the home team frustrated.
It looked like it would finish 1-1, but when Holden, who was impeccable otherwise, dragged down Ian Turner inside the area, City looked like taking all three points when Escudé-Candau struck into the right side of the net.
Nobody explained that script to Youths though and less than two minutes after falling behind they were level again through Elmes after City failed to clear the danger.
Danny Morrissey and Cummins were both unlucky deep in injury-time but in the end the draw was the fairest result.
Cork City: Mark McNulty; Ian Turner, Gavin Kavnagh, Kalen Spillane (Danny Morrissey, 80mins), Danny Murphy; Daryl Horgan, Shane Duggan (Gearóid Morrissey, 86mins), Greg O’Halloran, Derek O’Brien; Graham Cummins, Vinny Sullivan (Vincent Esucdé-Candau, 62mins).
Subs not used: Craig Burns, James McCarthy, Cathal Lordan, Eoin McGreevy.
Wexford Youths: Patrick Holden; Shane Nolan, Karl Keogh, Martin Kehoe, Dean Broaders; Ben Ryan, Greg Yelverton (Shane Dempsey, 62mins), Craig Wall, Darragh Walshe, Robert Vickers (Dave Grincell, 78mins); Danny Furlong.
Subs not used: Muzzy Mullen, Mark Phelan, Tom Elmes, Eoin Kinsella.
Referee: Kevin O’Regan.
ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Patrick Holden.
Official attendance: 2081.
About Alan Smith
Alan Smith works as a sub-editor for the Guardian newspaper in London. Originally from Cork, he freelances for several other newspapers and websites. Follow him on twitter @alansmith90. View Full Profile