A scoreless and lacklustre league game at Turners Cross was permeated
with an atmosphere all too common at Cork sports grounds in the past
12 months. Once again on Lee-side the action on the field was
relegated to mere side show as the City following vented spleen at the
current, and at this stage all too long ongoing crisis surrounding the
club.
The few Sligo fans that made the trip made more noise than
the home crowd for the first 15 minutes. The majority of the Rebels
were outside standing and chanting in protest at the current plight
with calls to ’Get out of our club’ directed at the absent chairman Tom Coughlan.
When the crowd did finally enter the stands it was to be the lowest
attendance of the season at Turners Cross with an official attendance
of 1,377. They witnessed what was probably a fair result on the night.
Indeed it was the visitors who mustered the best of the early chances.
In the 16th minute Danny Ventre rattled a shot off the crossbar after
taking a deflection off Kevin Long before the recalled keeper Dan
Connor was able to punch clear.
As the half wore on the game died a death as both sides failed to
enforce any kind of authority on the contest and it wasn’t until five
minutes before the break that City got their first real sniff at
goal; Davin O’Neill struck low with power only to see Richard Brush
deny him, turning the ball away for a corner.
After the break both sides lapsed into similar mode. It took all of 77
minutes for Billy Dennehy to find Faz Kuduzovic in the Cork attack but
the resultant shot from the Bosnian was well saved by the ever
effective shot stopper Brush.
Right at the death Sligo could have snatched a victory had Rob Turner
not directed his header just wide after Dean Marshall provided the
cross.
All square bar the shouting.
Cork City: Dan Connor, Danny Murphy, Stephen Mulcahy, Kevin Long, Neal
Horgan, Davin O’Neill, Stephen O’Donnell, Cillian Lordan, Billy
Dennehy, Guntars Silagailis(Kudozovic 75‘), Gareth Cambridge
Sligo Rovers: Richard Brush, Gavin Peers, Joe Kendrick, Alan Keane,
Romauld Boco, Danny Ventre(Ryan 70‘), Conor O’Grady, Eoin Doyle
(Marshall 57‘), Brian Cash(Turner 80‘), Raphael Cretaro, Matthew
Blinkhorn Booked: Ventre (56’)
