Cork City 2 - 2 Monaghan United

• Alan Smith
• Fri, Apr 01 2011


Cork City and Monaghan United played out an amazing 2-2 draw at Turner’s Cross on Friday night, to keep both team’s unbeaten records alive in the Airtricity League First Division.

While much of the build-up was focussed on Roddy Collins’ berating of Tommy Dunne, the 2006 supporters in attendance were treated to a terrific encounter, with the home side pegging back Monaghan leads on two occasions.

Tactically, Collins was the shrewder of the two, playing three at the back and packing the midfield in an attempt to quieten Cork’s central players. On the other hand, Gearoid Morrissey was planted on the right wing again for the home side, certainly not his strongest position, and you could tell as the majority of Cork’s best attacks in the early stages were created by Derek O’Brien down the left, with their most creative player out of position.

Still, this was perhaps some of the most exciting football seen at Turner’s Cross since the beginning of last season. No doubt the Roddy-factor had a part to play, with the home support more vocal than it has been for some time and add in the fact Monaghan seemed intent on play-acting from the moment they took the lead, there was always that added sense of pantomime throughout the evening.

Monaghan did have the most perfect of starts as debutant Declan ‘Fabio’ O’Brien showed his class with a brilliantly taken header inside six minutes. After some sustained pressure in the home side’s half, Shane Grimes sent an in-swinging cross in from the left which was coolly nodded into the bottom right corner by the former Drogheda United striker.

It was also a great beginning from a neutral point of view, because it led to Cork going hell for leather from that moment onwards. A riveting encounter ensued. Davin O’Neill worked very well in the ‘number nine’ role, linking-up very well with the midfield and Graham Cummins. Indeed he was the creator for a magnificent chance that was spurned by Shane Duggan on 12 minutes, as the midfield latched onto the former’s defence splitting pass, only to shoot straight at Gabriel Sava.

The home team pressurised the United back three, and it finally paid off in a similar move to O’Brien’s opener. On this occasion, Gearoid Morrissey pinged the ball into the area from a corner on the left, Graham Cummins rose above a group of players inside the area to head home from a difficult angle and parity had been resumed.

Cork also finished the half strongly, Derek O’Brien having his shot from a tight angle saved by Sava, while the ‘keeper uncharacteristically parried away Gearoid Morrissey’s effort from 20 yards. In truth, Mons didn’t really do much to threaten McNulty from the moment they scored the goal up until the break.

They did, however, have a decent spell after the interval, culminating in Eric Foley’s effort from 30 yards flashing inches wide of McNulty’s post. O’Neill continued to prosper for Cork and he danced around Monaghan players at times, while setting up Cummins who headed wide on 52 minutes.

Referee Jim McKell then became the centre of attention just before the hour mark as O’Neill ran towards Sava. The ‘keeper collided with his own player in Phil Byrne, and for some unknown reason McKell pointed towards the penalty spot. Cork fans, bemused, celebrated, but protests from the away team saw the decision overturned after McKell’s linesman signalled that it was not a penalty. Eventually, despite Sava being shown a yellow card, Mons were given a free out.

Typically, it took just sixty seconds for United to go back into the lead. Sean Brennan’s corner from the left was met by the unmarked Fabio O’Brien, and he nodded home again. Poor marking from Cork, but the striker still had a lot to do when connecting with the ball from an awkward angle.

The final twenty minutes belonged to the home team and while Derek O’Brien was booked for a dive inside the area, they kept pegging away and the equaliser finally came on 83 minutes with a bit of good fortune. O’Neill was by far City’s best player and his performance was rewarded when he shot from the edge of the area, it took a heavy deflection en route to goal and flew into the roof of the net.

Cork City: Mark McNulty; Neal Horgan, Gavin Kavanagh, Kalen Spillane, Danny Murphy; Gearoid Morrissey, Shane Duggan, Greg O’Halloran, Derek O’Brien (Vinny Sullivan, 77mins); Davin O’Neill, Graham Cummins.
Unused Subs: Ian Turner, Timmy Kiely, James McCarthy, Kieran Keneally, Jamie Murphy, Vincent Escude-Candau.
Booked: Derek O’Brien.

Monaghan United: Gabriel Sava; Conor McMahon (Philip Byrne, ht), Dave Rogers, Shane Grimes; Shane Fitzgerald (Michael Isichei, 57mins), Eric Foley, Ryan Brennan, John Reilly, Jason Marks; Declan O’Brien, Sean Brennan.
Unused Subs: Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Loughran, Jake Rossiter, Andy Haran, Don Tierney.
Booked: Shane Fitzgerald, Ryan Brennan, Gabriel Sava, Declan O’Brien.

Referee: Jim McKell (Tipperary).
ExtraTime Man of the Match: Davin O’Neill – Cork’s best player on the night, capped off wonderfully with the equaliser.
Official Attendance: 2006.