During the last decade the visits of Shamrock Rovers to Cork have provided a tonic for City teams in need of a lift. Only twice did the Dubliners win down south over the course of those 10 years. But rarely was the lift more timely than yesterday when the three points Dave Barry's side squeezed out of an open and entertaining encounter ended their miserable recent run and kept alive their hopes of a crack at the title.
Neither side was at full strength for this important game, but for all his other problems Barry would have settled for Patsy Freyne's blend of guts and guile during December when things turned so ugly for the southerners. Certainly there was no mistaking the impact of the veteran's return.
However, it was in the centre of the field where the contest really turned in the home side's favour, most notably in the second half when City simply won too much possession, and Freyne and Herrick used it too well for Rovers to do anything more than hang on.
Given City's form of late that hardly seemed out of the question but two quick goals, the first from Anthony Buckley after an hour and the second six minutes later from Pat Morley, his 13th of the season, killed off the Dubliners' hopes of taking out of the game. "If any of the team in the chasing pack is capable of putting together the sort of run required to catch Shelbourne, it's Cork," said Rovers manager Damien Richardson afterwards. "They're the best equipped for it and if they regain their confidence then they can still play a very big part in this championship." January, he added, would be a big month for his own team with City to come again next week in the Cup after which there will be a series of crucial league fixtures.
For City, though, Morley could have laid the foundation for a far more convincing win when he was handed the opportunity to put his side in front after just two minutes. Buckley knocked Noel Hartigan's cross nicely into his path, but the 34 year-old mistimed his strike, pounding the ball towards the ground and the Rovers goalkeeper, Tony O'Dowd, had little trouble helping it over the bar.
City continued to have the greater share of possession, much of it around their opponents' box and there were further occasions on which Dave Barry must have been mystified not to see his players stick the ball in the Rovers net.
For all of the home side's possession, though, the Dubliners performed solidly in the opening period and clearly had more cause for complaint when the two teams went in for the break with the contest still all square.
Three times Phil Harrington was called into action during that first half, twice in the space of a few seconds, while Dave Hill and Derek Coughlan had made a decent tackle or two as well. But when Shane Robinson mis-hit an angled cross from the right the goalkeeper misjudged the flight and while Greg O'Halloran happily took the credit for clearing off the line, just about everyone in the ground - the officials aside - reckoned the ball had been a foot or so over the line.
"It was an elementary mistake," said Richardson of the referee's judgement on the incident afterwards "the sort of thing that's unacceptable at this level. We're very aggrieved," he continued, "that a decision like that could cost us a match." He had a right to be, although the injustice might have been far more regrettable had his players not been so clearly outplayed for the second half of the contest.
Cork City: Harrington; O'Halloran, Coughlan, Hill, Cronin; Buckley, Herrick, Freyne, Cahill; Hartigan, Morley. Subs: Caulfield for Hartigan (57 mins), O'Brien for Buckley (78 mins), Cotter for Freyne (88 mins).
Shamrock Rovers: O'Dowd; Brazil, Purdy, Palmer, Woods; Robinson, Colwell, Kenny, Byrne; Francis, Lawlor. Subs: Fitzgeraald for Robinson (71 mins), Britton for Purdy (75 mins), Cousins for Francis (82 mins).
Referee: J McDermott (Dublin).
