Dundalk 1 Cork City 0
Five times these sides met last season but if the fear was the league’s leading rivalry might start to seem stale, forget it – this one was a one-goal thriller.
Pat Hoban got it but had departed by the end of a breathless encounter which Dundalk dominated. The home fans celebrated at the end as if they won the title itself. A defeat to the champions, they knew, would have been a significant blow.
Instead, they move to within one point of the leaders and look like a side that has recovered their collective sense of self-belief after a sluggish start to the season. Having scored eight last time out, they created enough opportunities to get a few more goals here. City defended heroically at times but they were let off the hook on a few occasions too.
Mark McNulty, inevitably, was at the very heart of it all.
His popularity ratings in these parts surely don’t make it out of single figures and so the crowd enjoyed the part he played in their side taking the lead after just four minutes with the goalkeeper spilling a Ronan Murray free that he looked to have gathered. Hoban wouldn’t have expected a gift like that in a game like this.
City had come from two behind to win in the President’s Cup a few weeks back, though, so the setback scarcely seemed fatal. But their problems through those early stages looked more serious than the single goal deficit. Having conceded the free that led to the goal, Conor McCormack picked up a booking when he foiled Robbie Benson’s run forward moments later. Garry Buckley picked one up minutes after that as City struggled to cope with their opponents surging runs through midfield.
Apportion blame
The two Cork midfielders went angrily toe to toe in an apparent attempt to apportion blame for the situation and the crowd taunted local lad McCormack as he left the field, looking stunned to be replaced, less than 21 minutes in. Buckley dropped into the space he vacated with Barry McNamee slotting in behind Graham Cummins but Dundalk continued to have much the better of things.
Michael Duffy again looked lively on the left while Murray posed problems from the edge of the area. All that was missing was a little more composure in front of goal.
Dundalk’s missed chances ensured City would never seem entirely out of it but they failed to seize their moment when it came. McNamee had a lot of goal to aim for when sent clear through on Gary Rogers after 31 minutes but seemed to find the goalkeeper irresistible and Daniel Cleary did really well to block Kieran Sadlier’s follow up with an outstretched leg.
City created no chances so clear-cut over the rest of the game with Dundalk dominating but the home side simply could not get the goal they required to make the game safe.
Hoban could have got it when he somehow got his shot away through a tangle of defenders’ legs on 55 minutes but that went wide and Jamie McGrath then fired straight at McNulty when allowed space to cut into the area.
Benson seemed to have sorted the situation on 69 minutes when he won himself a soft penalty at the expense of Steven Beattie but despite the midfielder’s spot-kick, a decent effort, struck towards the bottom left corner, McNulty got across well to push it around the post.
Given the reprieve, City threw everything and everyone, McNulty included, forward through the closing stages but Dundalk dug deep and the ferocity of a Sean Hoare challenge on Karl Sheppard suggested they wouldn’t easily concede. There were moments when the emotion of it all all spilled over and Dundalk had another couple of chances late on. That Hoban goal and a fourth clean sheet proved enough, though.
DUNDALK: Rogers; Gannon, Cleary, Hoare, Massey; Benson, Shields; McGrath (Jarvis, 90 mins), Murray (Chvedukas, 78 mins), Duffy; Hoban (Tagbajumi, 89 mins).
CORK CITY: McNulty; Beattie, McCarthy, Barry, Griffin; Morrissey, McCormack (McNamee, 21 mins); Sheppard, Buckley (Keohane, 78 mins), Sadlier; Cummins.
Referee: P McLaughlin (Donegal).
