- Stephen Walsh
- Wed, Mar 25 2015
Cork City moved up to fourth place in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division on Tuesday nightas the club swept aside the challenge of Galway United thanks to a goal in each half at Turner’s Cross in front of a crowd of 2,934 spectators.
Karl Sheppard opened the scoring on 35 minutes for his first goal for the club, playing their 1,000th League of Ireland game, since his move from Shamrock Rovers last year. While the returning Alan Bennett capped of a man of the match performance by scoring a diving header in front of an adoring “Shed” on 61 minutes.
This was a game of particular significance for Galway manager Tommy Dunne who was making his first appearance at Turners Cross since his departure in summer 2013 and he got a very good reception from the fans.
The opening 30 minutes were pretty forgetful with not much of note occurring as both sides struggled to put a set of passes together with City having the majority of the possession but Galway were defending deep and as a result neither keeper was called into action.
Cork City then won two corners in succession after Mark O’Sullivan saw his shot blocked away by Alex Byrne. With the second corner Billy Dennehy floated the ball into the six yard box towards Connor Gleeson who flapped at the ball allowing it to fall to Sheppard who headed it in from close range.
The goal scorer nearly turned provider just before the break when he put in a cross for O’Sullivan but he couldn’t direct it on target from 10 yards.
Cork City began the second half with far more urgency and attempted to keep the ball on the ground instead of hoofing it as they did for long stretches of the first half and the introduction of John O’Flynn signalled a change in tactic.
The visitors nearly had an equaliser on 57 minutes when a corner was flicked on by Gary Shanahan to Jake Keegan but he could only hit it narrowly over the bar from close range.
The home side stretched their lead just after the hour mark when Bennett met Billy Dennehy’s corner and powered a diving header into the bottom corner of the net.
City had further opportunities to extend their lead with Gaynor going narrowly wide with a 35 yard drive and Holohan fired over from another opportunity.
Galway though kept trying to pull back a goal and had a chance of a late consolation goal when Shanahan found himself one on one with Mark McNulty but the keeper stood tall to record his third clean sheet of the season.
Cork City: Mark McNulty; John Kavanagh, Darren Dennehy, Alan Bennett, Ross Gaynor; Karl Sheppard, John Dunleavy (c), Gavin Holohan (Kieran Djilali 72), Liam Miller, Billy Dennehy (Liam Kearney 89); Mark O’Sullivan (John O'Flynn 56).
Subs not used: Kevin O’Brien (gk), Dan Murray, Rob Lehane, Garry Buckley.
Booked: Kavanagh (66), Gaynor (75), D Dennehy (85).
Galway United FC: Connor Gleeson; Alex Byrne, Andy O’Connell, Stephen Walsh, Kevin Garcia (Cormac Raftery 55); Paul Sinnott (c), David O’Leary, Ryan Connolly (Padraic Cunningham 39), Gary Shanahan, Jason Molloy (Conor Barry 90+1); Jake Keegan.
Subs not used: Conor Winn (gk), Antaine O’Laoi.
Booked: Garcia (42)
Referee: Padraigh Sutton (Clare)
Attendance: 2,934
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Alan Bennett (Cork City)
