Cork City 2 - 0 Manchester United XI

On a night where they were in the most illustrious of company, Cork City showed off their own quality with a 2-0 friendly win over a Manchester United select at a packed-out Turner’s Cross last night.

With a crowd of over  6,000, it will have been a nice boost to the coffers for City but, as clichéd as it sounds, it’ll be interesting to see how many return when they take on arch rivals Shelbourne in a crucial league clash on Friday night.

For manager Tommy Dunne, it was a night of many positives as his first string dominated against a physically weaker United in the opening half before the home team made 10 switches at the interval and six later in the half, Dunne affording his fringe players some more much-needed game time.

United, while showing some nice touches, lacked not only the required bit of physicality but also the level of industry required to break past the City defence.

Ireland U19 international Sean McGinty did well at centre-back, looking composed on the ball, while Norwegian winger Mats Daehli showed occasional flashes of brilliance.

In the end, however, the game will be best remembered for Murray’s goal midway through the first half. It arrived following a magical burst down the left flank from Daryl Horgan, winning a corner after his shot was turned around the post by Johnny Sutherland.

Ian Turner took the resulting corner and Murray rose high from a cluster of players to power home from six yards out.

The second-half was standard exhibition fare as attempts on goal were few and far between. Jack Barmby, introduced for United just after the hour mark, threatened Cork’s Mark McNulty on a couple of occasions but the keeper dealt comfortably with the threat and Andy O'Connell added Cork's second with a tap-in from six yards with the final kick of the evening

Cork City: Mark McNulty (Kevin Burns 87); Colin Healy (Neal Horgan ht (Stephen Carroll 81), Kevin Murray (Dan Murray ht), Kalen Spillane (Eoghan Buckley ht), Danny Murphy (Shane O’Connor ht (Jason Forde 88)); Ian Turner (Kelvin Bossman ht (Andy O’Connell 81) , Brian Lenihan (Cathal Lordan ht (Graham McCarthy 63 (Alan Browne 87)), John Dunleavy (Gary Buckley ht), Daryl Horgan (Stephen Kenny ht); Davin O’Neill (Keigan Parker ht), Vinny Sullivan (Harry Crawford ht).

Manchester United: John Sutherland; Michele Fornasier, Michael Keane, Sean McGinty, Reece James; Tom Lawrence (Agnaldo 56), Gladstoney (Luke Hendrie 56), Luke Giverin (Jack Barmby 63), Adnan Januzaj, Mats Daehli (Gyliano Van Velzen 78); Josh King.

Referee: G Kelly

Official attendance: 6,079

ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Daryl Horgan.