Cork City 1 - 0 Longford Town

• Alan Smith
• Fri, Sep 24 2010


The dream lives on for Cork City as their eighth win in nine has kept them in play-off contention after Graham Cummins’ early strike put Longford Town to the sword at Turner’s Cross on Friday night.

Cork were deserved of their fourth victory on the bounce and with Shelbourne away to come next Friday, it really is squeaky-bum time for the Leesiders as they look to continue their dream of promotion.

The early goal did not come without warning either, as top-scorer Cummins forced Stephen Conlon into an unorthodox stop with his foot in the 6th minute after the high Longford defensive line was caught for pace.

It was an early signal for Tony Cousins to tighten up the away side’s defence. That didn’t happen though, and four minutes later Cummins roared past Philip Byrne from a delicate Cambridge pass, leaving the defender for dead before steadying and curling the ball into the near post to give City the vital early lead they needed.

Town’s first shot in vein didn’t come until after they had fallen behind, and that was still a paltry effort as Lee Roche tamely poked the ball into the hands of Mark McNulty. Nonetheless, Roche was given a tremendous opportunity to level when he was bundled over inside the area by Greg O’Halloran and Stephen Grant awarded a penalty.

With Mark Salmon suspended, Roche dusted himself off to take the kick, McNulty dived the right way to keep the home side ahead with a great save and the Longford striker was left wondering what might have been.

Cummins was back in a dangerous position again on 23 minutes as City dominated, but on this occasion he poked the ball agonisingly wide from six yards as the Leesiders almost doubled their advantage due to yet more lacklustre Longford defending.

The Longford threat was minimal. Too little ball to Roche and his partner Don Cowen, meant they were rarely allowed time to trouble the City defence. There was no doubting their potential as a strike force but the ball didn’t reach them as often as required to give them the required opportunity.

Ultimately, Cork were as comfortable as a seven year old on the couch watching his favourite cartoons during his midterm. Gearoid Morrissey, with a new contract in the bag, turned in a solid performance for City in midfield, showing his potential as a potential star at a higher level than this. While Gavin Kavanagh worked well at the back.

Those comforts were not something we’ve seen regularly at Turner’s Cross this campaign and with John Lester hammering 35 yard free kicks over the bar with little bother for McNulty, you couldn’t see the home side moving out of their relaxed zone after half-time either.

Although Longford had progressed a bit higher up the pitch, barring Thomas Hyland’s effort which McNulty tipped acrobatically over the bar two minutes before the break. Cork were pleased at the break, but the worry was would they become complacent?

Town did start the second half brighter than the opening period as Roche played to Cowen, whose surprising effort almost caught McNulty out, the ball parried around the post for a corner. Meanwhile, Roche himself fired an audacious chip over the bar from 20 yards out.

Cork weren’t sitting back either though, and Barrett flashed a drive wide on 51 minutes after Ian Turner’s cross, while he did have the ball in the net a minute later, only for the offside flag to be raised. Although chances in front of goal weren’t that regular, Gareth Cambridge curled over on 66 minutes as the game took on a strange complexion.

The sides were fairly even in terms of possession but neither team could create ample room to get shots away. Cork weren’t too annoyed with that however, as Longford were the ones chasing a goal.

Victor Ekanem almost put the result beyond doubt on 72 when he nearly turned the ball into his own net with a wicked deflection, only for Conlon to get his body behind the ball to keep the deficit to the minimum entering the latter stages.

Then disaster struck for Longford as Roche went down innocuously in the area and after a long delay, he looked in absolute agony when being stretchered off the field with a big strapping on his leg. It killed the game as City held onto the ball and closed out the result with consummate ease.

Cork City: Mark McNulty; Ian Turner, Gavin Kavanagh, Greg O’Halloran, Billy Woods; Davin O’Neill, Cillian Lordan, Gearoid Morrissey, Shane Barrett (Shane Duggan, 84mins); Graham Cummins, Gareth Cambridge (George O’Callaghan, 68mins, Eoghan Lougheed, 94mins).
Subs not used: Paul Deasy, Jonas Piechnik.

Longford Town: Stephen Conlon; Chris Deans, Philip Byrne (Craig Walsh, 46mins), John Lester, Kevin Cronin; Cathal Brady, Victor Ekanem, Thomas Hyland, Mike Lee (Jason Oladele, 70mins); Don Cowen, Lee Roche (Peter Hynes, 75mins).
Subs not used: Craig Mooney, Dave Freeman.

Referee: S Grant.
Attendance: 1398
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Graham Cummins – yet again he was the match winner.