Sport

Mooney shoots down luckless Sligo

Cork City1 Sligo Rovers 0 : CORK CITY were well worth their win at Turner's Cross last night, but will have to work on their…

Sat May 10 2008 - 01:00

Cork City1 Sligo Rovers 0: CORK CITY were well worth their win at Turner's Cross last night, but will have to work on their final product if they are to continue to lift themselves up the table.

They were helped here by their opponents being harshly reduced to 10 men in the second half, but, overall, they deserved the points.

Dave Mooney's strike after nine minutes was an impressive start to proceedings. Put into space by a combination of John O'Flynn and George O'Callaghan, he worked space for himself on the edge of the box before letting fly right-footed to the top-left-hand corner.

After two defeats on the trot, by Drogheda and St Pat's, that goal proved a release of tension for City.

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But then, as if resting on their laurels, they didn't push home the domination they would go on to have over the first half. They had chances, Liam Kearney and O'Flynn were slightly unlucky not to extend the lead, but it's unlikely manager Alan Mathews would have been overjoyed at the break.

Save for a Dan Murray header in the 50th minute and a speculative O'Flynn half chance nine minutes later, there was no real finishing product at the end of some nicely constructed Cork moves.

They were nearly punished when just after the hour left-back Darragh Ryan took down the Sligo defender Jamie McKenzie in the box. Hanney reached for a card rather than, as most in the ground feared, his whistle, booking the centre back for the second time.

It made a tough job harder for the away team but still Cork did not make the most of numerical advantage. O'Callaghan came close on 85 minutes before Sligo frustrations deepened when Hanney booked left back Chris Butler twice in the closing minute.

CORK CITY: M Devine; N Horgan, P Sullivan, D Murray (capt), D Ryan; C Healy, G O'Callaghan, J Gamble; Mooney, O'Flynn, L Kearney. Subs: D Behan for O'Flynn (78).

SLIGO ROVERS: R Brush; S Coleman, J MacKenzie, M Almeida, C Butler; B Cash, C O'Grady (capt), D Ventre, R Cretaro; F Kudozovic, R Boco. Subs: M Judge for Boco, A Moore for Cash (both 57 mins); G Curran for Cretaro (74 mins).

Referee: Declan Hanney (Dublin).