Sligo Rovers 0-1 Cork City

Cork City ground out their third successive one nil away win on Sunday afternoon, seeing off the challenge of a hard working, but toothless Sligo Rovers. Having dropped into the bottom half of the table, Sligo were hoping to take advantage of the fact that Cork had only very recently returned from their Finnish disaster - but Alan Mathews side showed no evident signs of a Euro hangover.

Sligo handed a debut to recent signing Richie Ryan, while Seamus Coleman passed a late fitness test. Loan signing David McDaid was on the bench. Matthew Judge and Steve Feeney were still missing through injury.

Liam Kearney and Pat Sullivan were missing through suspension for the Leesiders, so in came the reliable Cillian Lordan at centre back, while Darragh Ryan started on the left hand side of midfield. New signing Lawrie Dudfield was included in the sixteen man squad.

Sligo had an early chance when Coleman and Raf Cretaro combined well on the right to find Romo Boco. Boco hit a low shot goalwards, but Cork captain Dan Murray got a block in.

Cork then quickly found their rhythm. Ten minutes in, the leagues top scorer Dave Mooney, was close to scoring his sixteenth of the season. He latched on to Daragh Ryans pass, but with Richard Brush advancing he had to hit it early. His toe poke came back off the post, and Denis Behan wasn't able to get on to the rebound, so Sligo survived. A minute later Mooney broke free of the Sligo offside trap, but his centre from the right wing was too close to Brush.

Gavin Peers somehow managed to escape a booking after fifteen minutes when he made a lunge at Mooney and missed the ball completely. From the resultant free on the left hand side touchline, the ball eventually came to Ryan, but he hit his volley from the edge of the box into the ground, and Brush had no problem gathering it in.

Danny Ventre, starting in midfield, had a bright opening, but his shot from all of thirty yards went high and wide. Cork then scored from the next passage of play.

Mooney picked up the ball in an inside left position and played it into the feet Behan at the edge of the box. Behan laid it off and the ball was moved to the right where Neal Horgan was pushing forward into space. The right back swung in a delightful deep cross that Behan met powerfully at the back post - heading past Brush from seven yards.

Sligo were to enjoy plenty of possession for the remainder of the half, but never really threatened Mick Devines goal. They never got in behind the Cork defence, having to instead play it around in front of them. When it came to playing the killer ball the passing was just not up to scratch.

Sligo manager Paul Cook changed things at the beginning of the second half - out went 4-5-1, and in came 3-5-2. Cretaro joined Boco up front, and the versatile Ventre acted as a quasi sweeper. Cretaro dropped deep to assist his defence after fifty minutes, but cheaply lost possession to Danny Murphy thirty yards from goal. Murphy quickly fed Mooney on the edge of the box. The former Longford man cut inside on to his right foot, and looked to curl one in at the far post - but the curl didn't materialise and his effort ended up well wide.

Coleman and Cretaro linked up a couple of times on the right, and began to cause Cork problems. Danny Murphy picked up a booking, and in general was struggling against Coleman. One expected Sligo to continue looking for an opening down that side - but for some reason they never again looked to get Cretaro or Coleman one on one against the full back.

Mathews introduced new signing Laurie Dudfield who looked hardworking , well able to beat a player, and strong on the ball. His debut didn't last long though, having to come off after picking up a knock to his calf. Colin Healy also went off injured.

Sligo huffed and puffed, but couldn't force an opening, even as they went to a 3-4-3 formation. Boco registered their only two efforts of the half - firing high and wide on both occasions from outside the box.

This was a good three points for Cork. Without two key players missing through suspension, they bounced back quickly from that four nil defeat to make it twelve domestic games unbeaten. Their last defeat was back on May 18th to Bohemians at Dalymount Park. Friday night sees Pat Fenlons side at Turners Cross.

Sligo Rovers: Richard Brush; Seamus Coleman (Brian Cash 80), Gavin Peers, Mauro Almeida, Chris Butler; Raffaele Cretaro, Conor O'Grady, Richie Ryan (Gary Curran 82), Danny Ventre, Sean Doherty (David McDaid 70); Romauld Boco.
Subs not used: Pat Jennings,  Ross McLaughlin.

Cork City: Michael Devine; Neal Horgan, Dan Murray, Cillian Lordan, Danny Murphy; Darren Murphy (Lawrie Dudfield 63 (Sean Kelly 88)), Colin Healy (John O'Flynn 78), Joe Gamble, Darragh Ryan; Denis Behan, Dave Mooney, 
Subs not used: Mark McNulty, Alan O'Connor.

Referee: Damien Hancock.

Attendance: 1,200 (estimate).