Cork City Foras Co-op 3 - 0 Wexford Youths

• Alan Smith
• Mon, Apr 12 2010


Cork City Foras Co-op won their first ever cup game at Turner’s Cross on Monday night, beating Wexford Youths by three goals to nil in front of 645 on a perfect evening for football.

Davin O’Neill’s fifth goal of the season broke the deadlock for Cork with less than a half-hour remaining as Graham Cummins doubled the scoreline in the final ten minutes to guarantee a home tie in Round 2. Rory Morrissey added some gloss to the win in the dying embers with his first strike for the club.

It was Cork’s fourth win on the bounce as they continue to build momentum despite being just a few weeks into existence, while the win also signalled Youths’ first loss in this competition at Turner’s Cross, at the third time of asking.

In one sense the tie lived up to the free-scoring Playstation games usually featured in EA’s Fifa series in the second half, and overall there were some interesting moments ‘in the game.’ Wexford gave as good as they got and despite their clear intent to attack, Cork took quite a while to break down their defence.

Cork made three changes from the team that beat Longford Town 1-0 on Friday, Mick Devine, Dave Warren and Greg O’Halloran coming in, with Mark McNulty, Cillian Lordan and Paul Deasy all dropping to the bench.

Youths, meanwhile, made a total of four changes from their 2-1 defeat to Finn Harps four days ago. Pa Doyle came in between the posts, while Aidan McCann, James Cogley, John Byrne also started for Noel O’Connor’s side.

The first chance of the game fell to Shane Duggan, the industrious midfielder shooting narrowly wide from just outside the box after Ian Turner fed to him.

Youths set up more adventurous than most teams visiting Turner’s Cross do, leading with two up front in Danny Furlong and Gary Sheehan, and the former had a glorious chance when he edged past Dave Rogers before shooting inches wide of the mark after six minutes.

Dave Warren, making his first start for Cork on his return to Leeside had another good effort for the home side on the quarter hour mark, before Graham Cummins’ header glanced just across goal after Cathal Lordan swung in an inviting corner, of which Cork had seven in total during the first half.

Lordan’s set-pieces were clearly causing Youths problems and he picked out Stephen Mulcahy, who captained the side in the absence of Cillian Lordan, and the defender headed just over the bar with 26 minutes on the clock.

In true cup spirit, Youths were far from setting out with a defensive mindset and they did have a couple of good first half chances. In particular when Dean Broaders played to Sheehan during a quick burst forward, though the striker’s shot was hammered over the bar and into the sparse crowd behind the goal.

Graham Cummins sparked the second half back into life with a blistering 25 yard strike which drifted just over the crossbar as Cork went in search of the opening goal. Sheehan had other plans than a goal for the home side though, and he unleashed another long range effort which Mick Devine fumbled onto the upright five minutes after the restart.

The opening goal eventually came from Cork’s 11th corner, which Youths could only clear as far as Mulcahy, who in turn played to O’Halloran. The assistant manager then squared the ball to O’Neill who had a simple tap-in at the backpost.

The away team went straight in search of an equaliser and Anthony Wolfe had his shot saved by Devine just two minutes after going behind. Nevertheless, those efforts would turn out to be in vein as Cummins netted from another Lordan corner eight minutes from time, the striker heading in his fourth of the year so far with a perfectly placed nod.

Their progress was guaranteed by then, but substitute Rory Morrissey, who was only on the pitch five minutes, grabbed his first goal for the side two minutes from the end with a simple finish from six yards out after Ian Turner proved pivotal in the build up.

Cork City Foras Co-op: Michael Devine; Ian Turner, Dave Rogers, Stephen Mulcahy, Uros Hojan, Davin O’Neill (Paul Deasy, 77mins), Shane Duggan, Greg O’Halloran, Dave Warren (Cillian Lordan, 66mins), Cathal Lordan; Graham Cummins(Rory Morrissey, 83mins).
Subs unused: Mark McNulty, Dave Clancy.

Booked: Rogers

Wexford Youths: Pa Doyle; Chris Kenny, David Breen, Aidan McCann, James Cogley (Anto Russell, 69mins); John Byrne, Shane Dempsey (Jimmy Keohane, 69mins), Anthony Wolfe, Dean Broaders; Danny Furlong (Kevin Rowe, 84mins), Gary Sheehan.
Subs unused: Patsy Malone, Pakie Holden.

Booked: Wolfe

Referee: G Kelly
Extratime Man of the Match: Stephen Mulcahy
Attendance: 645