Cork City 1 - 1 Longford Town

• Alan Smith
• Fri, May 06 2011


Cork City had Jamie Murphy to thank for holding on to their unbeaten record as his late equaliser meant there was a share of the spoils with Longford Town at Turner’s Cross on Friday night.

City had an evident hangover from their bye last week and Tony Cousins’ side got off to a great start when Austin Skelly scored his third of the season with a terrific shot. Murphy, however, bundled home two minutes from time to maintain City's unbeaten record, though Shelbourne will be more satisfied with the result as they can extend the gap at the top on Saturday when they play Salthill.

Town were dealt a very late blow when top scorer Don Cowan pulled out in the warm-up with a thigh injury, but he wasn’t missed because his usual strike partner Skelly grabbed what turned out to look a likely winner just six minutes in.

Jacques Morley played to the striker, he turned into space and curled a beautiful effort into the roof of the net that flew past James McCarthy, who was making his league debut for the home team in place of the suspended Mark McNulty.

City didn’t get a foothold like they have had in recent games and with the defensive duo of Des Hope and Chris Deans relatively unthreatened at the back, apart from a slack back-pass that allowed Vinny Sullivan to nip in, who then took the ball away from gaping goal with Paul Hunt stranded, the Longford back four were comfortable for most of the first-half.

Davin O’Neill shot well wide from range, but other than that there wasn’t much to report in terms of goalmouth action until Graham Cummins curled narrowly wide from 20 yards in the 37th minute with a right-footed attempt.

Longford retreated to a 451 formation, with Lee Roche dropping into midfield, but they still fashioned a decent effort when Morley’s effort with the outside of his left boot swung narrowly off-target.

Cork finished the half with an increased purposefulness though, and Shane Duggan had his shot saved by Hunt, while the Town stopper pulled off a great double save from O’Neill three minutes before the break.

The home team started the second half a bit stronger and looked to be turning the screw a bit against a very defensive Longford. Greg O’Halloran snatched wide on 55 minutes, as Cummins headed wide from a Gearoid Morrissey cross on the right heading into the last half hour.

Town rarely threatened in the second period, although Skelly scooped off target with a rare attack. Nonetheless, they weren’t exactly hanging on either, because for all the possession City had in the second half, they were restricted to crosses into the area and attempts from range.

When Morrissey was hacked down inside the area by Morley on 67, City should have been given a penalty but somehow Phil Caschera ignored the claims and let play go on. It led to a sense of incredulity around the ground and it looked like the game was going to end with City losing their unbeaten record.

However, with two minutes to go Gavin Kavanagh played a hopeful ball in from the right touchline and Jamie Murphy, only on as a substitution, bundled home from eight yards to record a share of the spoils.

Cork City: Mark McNulty; Ian Turner (Jamie Murphy, 86mins), Gavin Kavanagh, Kalen Spillane, Danny Murphy; Davin O’Neill, Greg O’Halloran (Vincent Escude-Candau, 59mins), Shane Duggan, Gearoid Morrissey; Vinny Sullivan (Timmy Kiely, 71mins), Graham Cummins.
Subs not used: Stephen Mulcahy, Peter Krzanowski, Rory Morrissey.

Longford Town: Paul Hunt; Neil O’Reilly, Des Hope, Chris Deans, Gary Cronin; Keith Gillespie (Cathal Brady, 62mins), Thomas Hyland, Mark Salmon, Jacques Morley (Aidan Roche, 71mins); Austin Skelly, Lee Roche (Jason Oladele, 54mins).
Subs not used: Paddy Collins, Craig Walsh, Alvin Rouse, Danny O’Reilly.
Booked: Neil O'Reilly.

Referee: Phil Caschera.

Attendance: 2075.

ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Paul Hunt – when called upon he produced several classy saves.