Salthill Devon 1 - 5 Cork City

• Alan Smith
• Sat, Apr 23 2011


Cork City went back to the top of the Airtricity League First Division with a convincing 5-1 win against bottom of the table Salthill Devon this afternoon.

Two goals just before half time saw Cork finish the first period with a healthy lead and they dominated from therein, striking three more times after the break.

They had actually made slightly difficult work of the majority of the first half, considering the convincing nature of the result, with Salthill enjoying several spells of prolonged attack. The home team have certainly improved since coming into the league hard and they caused the City defence some trouble in the opening half. They just didn’t have the know-how to break down Mark McNulty despite their larger share of the ball, however, and their inexperience is still quite evident.

Indeed, the stiff breeze didn’t help either with several efforts from the home team sailing off target. Salthill were looking to Daniel Rupa and Ciprian Straut to create their best moves and at times throughout the first half they had the City back four stretched.

Cork seemed to improve in the final stages of the half though and Shane Duggan blasted wide after Gearóid Morrissey cut the ball back into his path, the midfielder’s effort taking a slight deflection for a corner.

From that resultant kick the Leesiders took the lead. Morrissey’s inviting ball stayed in the air and Greg O’Halloran was at hand to scoop the ball into the net at the back post.

City found a second goal under two minutes later as Duggan was tripped by Cian Fadden just inside the area, Kevin O’Regan pointing toward the spot and Davin O’Neill struck low into the net from 12 yards to give the away team a two goal lead at the break.

That goal had definitely knocked the stuffing out of Salthill, and City were comfortable throughout the second half.

The away side’s third was a real highlight just before the hour mark, some rapid movement both on and off the ball ending with a wonderful finish from Cummins. Vinny Sullivan headed into the path of O’Neill, who then went on to play a defence splitting pass into the path of last season’s top scorer. The striker then produced a deft finish, gently flicking the ball over the oncoming Bernard Power and into the empty net.

Salthill rarely threatened but when Rupa burst through in a rare move forward, McNulty came off his line, collided with the home striker before being shown a red card. There could be no qualms about the decision, solely for the reason the ‘keeper was the last man, and Straut fired past replacement stopper James McCarthy, making his league debut for City, to reduce the gap to two goals.

The home team were never going to get a result even with the advantage in personnel, because City showed a real maturity for the final twenty minutes, striking another two goals that left Salthill licking their wounds.

It took just four minutes for busy referee O’Regan – making his first appearance in the League of Ireland - to point to the spot once more. Greg O’Halloran was chopped down by James Whelan as he galloped towards goal and Cummins struck the penalty, forcefully driving the ball into the right corner of the net.

Devon’s only other attempt of note saw Jason Lyons’ effort blocked down by Murphy with a minute of normal time remaining, but deep into added time City struck once again.

Another terrific move down the left-flank starting with Murphy saw both Duggan and Cummins combine out wide. The ball eventually made its way into the box, where substitute Vincent Escudé-Candau calmly squared to O’Neill, the attacker bagging his second goal of the game with acres of space eight yards out.

Salthill Devon: Bernard Power; Eugene Greaney, James Whelan, Cian Fadden, Gearoid O’Leidhinn; Ronan Conlon, Cian McBrien, Ciprian Straut, Etanda Nkololo; Brian Gaffney, Daniel Rupa.
Subs: Enda Dunne (McBrien, 74mins), Luke McConnell (Straut, 87mins), Jason Lyons (Gaffney, 87mins), Paddy Quinlan, Pascal Burger, Tommy Molloy, Brian Conlon

Cork City: Mark McNulty; Neal Horgan, Gavin Kavanagh, Kalen Spillane, Danny Murphy; Davin O’Neill, Greg O’Halloran, Shane Duggan, Gearóid Morrissey; Graham Cummins, Vinny Sullivan.
Subs: Vincent Escudé-Candau (Morrissey, 61mins), James McCarthy (Vinn Sullivan, 69mins), Ian Turner, Stephen Mulcahy, Timmy Kiely, Jamie Murphy, Simon Holland

Referee: Kevin O’Regan.

ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match – Graham Cummins, clinical once more in front of goal.

Attendance: 250 (estimated).