Limerick 1 - 3 Cork City

• Andrew Cunneen
• Sat, Sep 18 2010


Cork City put Limerick to the sword on Friday night at Jackman Park with never really needing to excel themselves. Goals from Graham Cummins, and a brace from Davin O’Neill meant a late free kick from Bobby Ryan was nothing but a consolation.

Cork started the brighter and began to look menacing from the very first minute as Graham Cummins aerial threat seemed to frustrate Limerick as cross after cross found the target man. It was this exact route which opened the scoring for the visitors, as a looped cross from Shane Barrett was met excellently by Cummins, who smashed his header into the top corner. Limerick would buckle under the pressure.

A second was only minutes away as some very poor defending from Declan Cahill in particular let Davin O’Neill stroll in from the wing through the Limerick backline before slotting past Dave Ryan in the Limerick goal.

As if the home fans weren’t agitated enough, a third followed almost immediately. Ten minutes had barely elapsed when Davin O’Neill was picked out, unmarked, to volley home across goal and into the bottom corner, much to the delight of the away support.

Limerick began to find their feet, although they lacked any real threat. The always reliable John Tierney was Limericks’ highlight, his pace causing trouble for the Cork side, although with little support, the forward couldn’t turn provider. Cork soaked up any Limerick attack and passed around comfortably to see out the remainder of the half.

The introduction of young David O’Leary was a plus for Limerick, the eighteen year old was the victim of a vicious challenge from Mervue United captain Eric Browne last month and had only resumed training the week before this fixture. He did little to change the course of the game in truth, while Limerick appeared frightened to challenge Cork at all, the away side were enjoying some excellent passages, showing how talented some of their players really are.

Stephen O’Flynn came close for the home side, his over ambitious volley from all of forty yards nearly caught out McNulty, but the Cork stopper prevented the goal. John Tierney’s late bursts were tireless but ineffective, giving Limerick no source of direction, a major problem of late for Pat Scully’s side.

After Cork appeared to have closed out the game, Limerick got a free kick on the edge of the box, up stepped substitute Bobby Ryan, and the Limerick native blasted his shot into the bottom corner. Limerick got their goal, but it had arrived far too late for them to contemplate a comeback of any proportion. Cork run out comfortable winners after a drab affair. Cork now lie only a point behind Limerick, and their recent form see’s them back with a chance of playoffs.

Limerick FC: Ryan, Kelly (Coughlan 75), Stanley, White, Cahill (O’Leary 45), Tracy (B. Ryan 62), Judge, Lyons, Clarke, O’Flynn, Tierney.
Unused Subs: McGuinness, Heary.

Cork City FORAS: McNulty, Turner, Lordan, Cambridge (O’Callaghan 90), Morrissey, O’Neill, Horgan, Cummins, Kavanagh, Barrett (Woods 88).
Unused Subs: Lougheed, Price, Deasy.

Referee: J.McKell
Attendance: 780
Extratime.ie man of the Match: Davin O’Neill.