Athlone Town 1-1 Cork City FORAS Co-op

• Davy Dully
• Sat, Mar 20 2010


Nine men Athlone Town worked hard to hold on to a 1-1 draw against newly formed Cork City FORAS Co-Op in the Athlone Town Stadium.

The game didn’t start that brightly with both teams having their share of possession but ultimately resorting to the long ball. The play freed up after the opening twenty minutes and both Athlone and Cork had their share of chances. Both sides had opportunities to go in front. Graham Cummins did well to get behind The Midlanders defence, but Des Hope, with an excellent tackle in the box, cleared for Athlone.

Austin Skelly had a great chance to put Athlone in front from six yards after an excellent run from Robbie Benson who crossed to Skelly but his missed cued shot rolled away from the goal and Cork cleared the danger. Minutes later Skelly shot from the outside the box but the Cork City keeper Mark McNulty saw it all the way.

Athlone’s next opportunity came from a well rehearsed set piece. Space was created by some off the ball running but Robbie Benson attempt on goal was cleared off the line. Cork were finding it difficult to deal with Athlone’s movement and the home side eventually found the break through from a corner. The Leesiders attempt to clear reached Gareth Kenna and his cross come shot found its way into the far corner. After the game Kenna told extratime.ie “of course it was a shot, I saw the keeper of his line... but seriously it was a cross and luckily it found its way in”

Athlone then conceded a penalty in the 42nd minute when Des Hope was adjudged to have pushed Davin O’Neill in the box. O’Neill brushed himself off to send the ball to the right of the keeper into the bottom corner. The Athlone keeper, Chris Bennion, was unlucky not to keep out the spot kick having got a strong hand to the ball.

Athlone thought they had the game won when the busy Skelly crossed to substitute Noel McGee who finished from just inside the box only to have his effort ruled offside. Cork City had their chances to win it too but weren’t over troubling to Bennion in goal. O’Neill was best for The Leesiders and had a couple of good chances from a handful of free kicks but failed to find the target with them. Athlone’s Des Hope was dismissed for the first time in his career when he was booked for the second time for a cynical foul on Shane Duggan who was running clear.

In injury time Athlone were reduced to nine men but Kevin Williamson can count himself unlucky to be dismissed for a foul on O’Neill who appeared to trip over himself while running through on goal. From the resulting free kick the Leesiders came close but it just went wide of Bennion’s far post. Athlone hung on until the final whistle.

Again Athlone Town can draw a lot from this game they played the better football and held on well for the last five minutes with only nine men. Athlone are still unbeaten in the league but their newly established squad is already looking stretched with the suspensions piling up. This game was food for taught for Derry City manager Stephen Kenny who was in the stand watching the game.

Athlone Town: Bennion, Nolan, Hope, McCarthy, O'Shea, O’Hanlon, Benson (Relihan, 92), Kenna, Williamson, Farrell (Mc Gee, 65), Skelly.
Subs not used: Sliggerman, Place, Dunne.

Cork City FORAS Co-op : Mark McNulty, Turner, Rogers, Mulcahy, Lordan, O'Neill, Lordan, Heffernan (Forde, 80), Duggan, Hojan, Cummins
Subs not used: Morrissey, Devine, Deasy, Warren

extratime.ie Man of the Match: Austin Skelly (Athlone Town)

Referee: R. Rodgers

Attendance: 882