Cork City 1-2 Salthill Devon

• Alan Smith
• Fri, Oct 22 2010


Basement side Salthill Devon took a huge scalp at Turner’s Cross tonight as Cian McBrien’s 82nd minute penalty snatched a rare win for the Galway side against Cork City.

Much had been made of City’s poor home form this season and they finished off their year on Leeside with yet another defeat as Salthill – 14/1 with some bookmakers to take the points – took the lead twice to give them just their third win of the year.

Robbie Porter had given the away team a first half lead but Davin O’Neill did equalise for Cork midway through the second half before McBrien popped up with the winning penalty.

Cork had a massive share of the ball throughout the 90 minutes, particularly in the first half, but a solid and driven Salthill certainly deserved this result on merit.

The first chance of note came seven minutes in when Graham Cummins’s rebound was blocked on the line after Shane Barrett’s original strike was parried into the league’s top scorers path by Salthill stopper Ronan Forde.

Davin O’Neill was the next to try his luck on 15 when his cajoling run ended with a side-footed strike which missed the target by only inches as the Galway outfit failed to get the ball out of their own half.

Salthill’s first opportunity did eventually come on 20 minutes however, as McBrien’s powerful punt was stopped by Mark McNulty.

At times George O’Callaghan was full of brilliance; playing just in front of the back four, his creative spark meant the home team were dominating in midfield and he continuously sought out a killer pass to play his teammates in.

And it was the midfielder that engineered City’s next chance, planting a perfectly weighted cross onto the head of Cummins, though his effort was well held by Forde. Still, for all their dominance, the home side just couldn’t capitalise and they were dealt a cruel blow ten minutes before the break.

Totally against the run of play, the City defence failed to clear McBrien’s cross from the right wing and Robbie Porter pounced from 12 yards out to slice home the ball through a cluster of players and into the bottom corner of the net.

It was perhaps unjust and the home team were clearly frustrated towards the end of the half as O’Callaghan and Gearóid Morrissey had efforts deflected wide.

The home team continued to dominate in terms of possession after half-time but Salthill had boarded up the entrance to their penalty area to good effect and it meant that despite the good passing and retainment of the ball, the Leesiders found it very difficult to provide for Cummins and create goalscoring chances.

O’Neill finally made the breakthrough on 66 minutes however as he carefully slotted the ball low into the net from ten yards out after he was given far too much space straight in front of goal.

The game certainly opened up a bit more after the equaliser and it was still City that looked most likely to grab a winner. It almost came when Cummins planted a beautiful cross onto O’Neill’s head only for the attacker to nod his effort across goal and wide of the mark.

Salthill still threatened on occasion and McBrien blasted miles wide ten minutes before the end. Then the unthinkable happened, Daryl Horgan flew into the box and he was dragged down by Gavin Kavanagh just inside the area.

Referee John Grimes immediately pointed to the spot and McBrien stepped up to slot the kick home and give the Connacht team the rarest of wins.

Cork City: Mark McNulty; Ian Turner, Gavin Kavanagh, Kalen Spillane, Eoghan Lougheed; Gareth Cambridge (Billy Woods, 60mins), Gearóid Morrissey(Shane Duggan, 57mins), George O’Callaghan; Davin O’Neill, Graham Cummins, Shane Barrett (Danny Morrissey, 79mins).
Subs unused: Cillian Lordan, Jonas Piechnik.

Salthill Devon: Ronan Forde; Colm Horgan, Brian Geraghty, James Whelan, Gearoid O’Leidhinn; Daryl Horgan, Mike Quirke (Damien O’Reilly, 71mins), Cian McBrien, Mike Gilmore (Luke McConnell, 61mins); Robbie Porter, Victor Collins.
Subs unused: Dragos Barbu, Conor Murray, Adrian Faherty.

Referee: J Grimes.

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Cian McBrien.

Attendance: 1172.