Soccer FAI Cup semi-final/ Bohemians 0 Cork City 2: Seán Connor's assertion this week that the only thing you look for in the FAI Cup is a home draw appeared a little premature last night as his side failed to turn in anything like the sort of performance required to capitalise on the advantage.

In the end, Bohemians were well beaten by a Cork City team that rather comfortably contained their hosts for long stretches and progressed to the final for the second time in three years thanks to a goal in each half from Liam Kearney.

"I thought we deserved it overall," said the match-winning midfielder afterwards. "It's a big pitch and they're a good team but we soaked up a lot of pressure and did well when we went at them on the break.

"Leon McSweeney was great and on balance I'd say we were the better side. It's a great reward for fans who have shown terrific commitment through a disappointing league season."

The locals could hardly have disagreed with much of that. Though they enjoyed most of the possession they gave Michael Devine little enough to do over the course of the 90 minutes and never seemed to find their stride in attack.

Cork City, on the other hand, had already carved out a couple of decent scoring chances before Kearney gave them the lead. Unfortunately for Connor, though, the goal was in no small measure a product of his attempt to address the vulnerability he felt the visitors were exploiting in his back four.

Just 25 minutes had passed when the Bohemians manager decided to replace his left back, Conor Powell, with Dean Richardson ostensibly on the basis that the Dubliner had stomach cramps. His reaction to being taken off scarcely suggested relief on the part of one who was ill. Even if he was, his manager surely felt a good deal worse seconds later when Denis Behan flicked a long Devine free beyond the still-out-of-position Richardson for McSweeney whose cross was, in turn, tapped home at the far post by Kearney.

It was a swift return on the spirited start made by a Cork City side whose willingness to throw themselves forward when the opportunity arose during the opening minutes suggested that this would be an open encounter packed with chances at either end.

But while the pace rarely slackened, Damien Richardson's men drew back a little after going in front and Bohemians had enough possession over what remained of the first half to haul themselves level, if only they could have caught sight of the target.

The home side's problem was that while they found possession relatively easy to come by inside their own half, their efforts to open up a well-organised and hard-working City defence around the area routinely ended badly.

When they almost grabbed an equaliser within a couple of minutes of the opening goal - Darren Mansaram's low shot was parried by Devine but the loose ball narrowly eluded both Glen Crowe and Kevin Hunt - the home support must have thought there were still strong grounds for optimism.

That was as close as they ever came to cancelling out the lead, however, with only a Harpal Singh curling free that flew just wide of the left-hand angle giving the City fans any cause for concern.

The travelling fans were clearly enjoying themselves and their celebrations began in earnest when Kearney doubled his side's advantage 13 minutes from time after McSweeney had skipped past three opponents through the centre before releasing his team-mate for a shot from just inside the area.

The game, it was obvious at that stage, was up and Bohemians pressed gamely on without ever managing to find a higher gear. Behan, indeed, had a couple of chances to grab a third for the southerners who might even have been surprised themselves by the ease of it all by then.

Those who reckoned the meeting of these two sides would have been better kept for the final must have been taken aback. City will go to the RDS on December 3rd as favourites now, but whoever wins at Belfield will fancy their chances of making them work harder than this.

BOHEMIANS: Murphy; Heary, McGuinness, Pooley, Powell (Richardson, 25 mins(Fenn, 78 mins)); McCann (McGinley, 58 mins), Hunt, Turner, Singh; Crowe, Mansaram.

CORK CITY: Devine; Horgan, O'Callaghan (Lordan, 28 mins), Murray, Woods; McSweeney, Healy, Gamble, Kearney; Behan, O'Flynn.

Referee: D Hancock(Dublin).