- Aaron Clarke
- Tue, May 10 2016
Cork City kept up the pressure on league leaders Dundalk thanks to a 1-0 victory against Bohemians at Dalymount Park on Tuesday evening.
A 47th minute goal from Garry Buckley was enough for John Caulfield's side to record a fifth straight league victory.
The home side, who entered the game on the back of a five game goal drought, had the game’s first chance when Kenny Browne failed to clear possession before the ball fell to Roberto Lopes who’s cushioned knockdown found Jake Kelly, but his effort was blocked before Cork scramble possession clear.
Bohs had another chance just after the quarter of an hour mark when Kelly found Keith Buckley, who laid the ball off to full-back Lorcan Fitzgerald, but his shot from inside the box was easily blocked.
As Cork began to find their feet in the game, Kevin O’Connor was unlucky not to test Dean Delaney from a dangerous free-kick. However, his left footed effort sailed over the keepers’ crossbar.
O’Connor would again be involved in Cork’s next chance when his free-kick was headed wide by Karl Sheppard from close range. With the Leesiders continuing to dictate play, Sean Maguire was next to try his luck, but his close range effort was blocked by Keith Buckley before Sheppard’s rebound was deflected behind for a corner.
As the rain continued to sweep across the Dalymount pitch, Bohemians continued to struggle with O’Connor’s dead ball and his latest effort was only half cleared by the defence before Stephen Beattie’s first time volley sailed the wrong side of Delaney’s goal.
Cork almost broke the deadlock in the 39th minute when Greg Bolger forced an excellent save from Delaney. Sheppard’s initial shot was blocked before the ball fell to the midfielder whose strike took a deflection before the keeper readjusted his feet to parry the ball away.
Soon after Bolgers chance, Garry Buckley should have done better from a corner, but he could only head wide from close range and moments later Maguire like Buckley failed to trouble Delaney with a headed effort.
John Caulfield's side did, however break the deadlock two minutes into the second-half when Maguire was allowed to cross from the by-line and his low ball found Garry Buckley who made no mistake from close range.
With second half chances few and far between in the opening 25 minutes, the sides would exchange opportunities in the 68th minute. First a short corner from Bohs saw Paddy Kavanagh fire his cross aimlessly over Mark McNulty’s crossbar.
Moments later, Cork broke from the resulting kick out before Bolger forced a low save from Delaney after the keeper got down well to gather the ex-St Pats players’ strike.
As Cork continued press forward in search of a second goal that would kill off the game, O'Connor failed to beat the wall from a dangerous free-kick before Delaney easily punched away the second delivery.
Bohemians’ chances of clawing a way back into the game in the final ten minutes were dealt a severe blow when second-half substitute Mark Quigley was shown a straight red card for a malicious challenge on Sheppard.
With stoppage time fast approaching, the Gypsies had a brilliant chance to snatch a point when Kelly found Ismahil Akinade with a knock down before the substitute fired wide from the edge of the box.
Moments later, as the Gypsies continued to push forward City Keeper McNulty was relieved to see his defender come to the rescue after the shot-stopper failed to gather a corner from the left.
After holding on for the three points, Cork City will host Derry City on Friday evening while Bohemians travel to Sligo Rovers on Saturday evening aiming to end their six game goal drought.
Bohemians FC: Dean Delany; Derek Pender, Dave Mulcahy, Derek Prendergast, Lorcan Fitzgerald; Paddy Kavanagh (Ismahil Akinade 70), Roberto Lopes, Eoin Wearen, Keith Buckley (Mark Quigley 63), Jake Kelly; Kurtis Byrne (Aymen Ben Mohammad 57).
Subs Not Used: Lee Steacy, Dan Byrne, Anto Murphy, Dylan Hayes.
Booked: Paddy Kavanagh (26), Derek Pender (40), Eoin Wearing (76).
Red Cards: Mark Quigley (80).
Cork City FC: Mark McNulty; John Dunleavy, Alan Bennett, Kenny Browne, Kevin O’Connor; Gavan Holohan ( Michael McSweeney 89), Greg Bolger, Garry Buckley; Stephen Beattie (Colin Healy 90+3), Sean Maguire (Mark O’Sullivan 82), Karl Sheppard.
Subs Not Used: Alan Smith, Danny Morrissey, Stephen Dooley, Ian Turner.
Booked: Greg Bolger (79).
Red Cards: None.
Referee: Robert Rogers
Attendance: 1,092
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Kevin O’Connor (Cork City FC)
You can see Daniel Rico's, Martin Doherty's and Eddie Lennon's pictures from the game here.
