Cork City Foras Co-op 4-2 Mervue United

• Peter McNamara
• Sat, Mar 27 2010


SHANE DUGGAN scored a historic second half hat-trick at Turner’s Cross as Cork City Foras Co-op recorded their very first victory in the League of Ireland against Mervue United.

Cork City Foras Co-op went into this Airtricity League of Ireland First Division tie searching for their first victory in four outings having gained two points from draws away to Derry City and, most recently, Athlone Town.

There was a home defeat to league leaders Waterford United sandwiched between those, but Tommy Dunne would have ear-marked this as a potential three points for his newly assembled side.

And so it proved to be the case, but it was not all smooth sailing for the Cork side as they dominated proceedings in the first half yet still found themselves level at 1-1 at the short whistle.

Graham Cummins had given Cork a deserved lead after just 18 minutes but Mervue, who played second fiddle for the most part to a technically superior Cork side with far more attacking threat, levelled through Eric Browne just seven minutes later.

City regained the lead six minutes into the second half as Duggan scored the first of three well-taken goals, but 60 seconds later Mervue were reduced to 10 men as midfielder Ollie Keogh was given a straight red card for an attempted head-butt at Cillian Lordan.

And from that point there was only going to be one winner as City went on to exploit Mervue’s necessity to chase the game.

Tommy Dunne made two changes to the team that drew away to Athlone Town last Saturday, with player-assistant manager Greg O’Halloran, back from suspension, coming in for Ian Turner with Stephen Mulcahy moving to right-back, while Eoin Forde replaced William Heffernan on the left of the City attack.
Mervue themselves were looking for their first win of the campaign but were always going to find it difficult at Turner’s Cross.

Right from the off City were controlling the midfield, with Cathal and Cillian Lordan particularly impressive, especially the latter who picked out a number of intelligent passes to create a host of openings for the home side.

City took the lead on 18 minutes as Graham Cummins scored his first goal for the club.

It was a night for firsts, the two sides first meeting, Cummins first goal, the first player to score a hat-trick for Cork City Foras Co-op and most importantly from Tommy Dunne’s perspective, their first three points in the bag.

Greg O’Halloran found Davin O’Neill down the right wing. O’Neill skipped past the defender and curled in an enticing cross which Cummins headed in from six yards.

Cork’s lead, however, was short-lived and Mervue, living off scraps in the attacking third, were back on terms on 25 minutes.

Rory Gaffney’s in-swinging corner from the right was pounced on at the far post by central defender Eric Browne and he made no mistake from close range.

The sides remained level heading in at the break but City regained the lead on 51 minutes. Cathal Lordan picked out the run of Shane Duggan with a crisp, incisive pass through the middle and the midfielder slotted coolly past Ger Hanley with a low left-footed shot

As if Mervue’s plight was not bad enough, they suffered another blow when Keogh was sent-off a minute later. City kicked on and added a third, Duggan’s second on 70 minutes. The inventive midfielder played an intelligent one-two with Cummins before placing beyond Hanley.

Mervue did pull a goal back to ensure a nerve-jangling final seven minutes of normal-time for Tommy Dunne when substitute Enda Curran headed home from a Kevin Crehan cross.

However, that was to be as good as it got for Mervue because just three minutes later City ensured maximum points as Duggan completed an exceptional hat-trick after he was again played through by Cathal Lordan and finished with aplomb.

Tom French can be relatively pleased with his side’s second half display taking into account that they would be always up against it, trailing by a goal and shorn of an important midfielder.

Cork City Foras Co-op will undoubtedly use this as a launch-pad for the season ahead.

Cork City Foras Co-op: Mark McNulty; Stephen Mulcahy, Greg O’Halloran, Dave Rogers, Uros Hojan (Ian Turner, 77); Cathal Lordan, Cillian Lordan, Shane Duggan; Davin O’Neill, Graham Cummins (Paul Deasy, 76), Eoin Forde.
Unused Substitutes: Michael Devine, Willie Heffernan, Rory Morrissey.

Mervue United: Ger Hanley; Noel Varley, Eric Browne, Damien O’Rourke, Mark Ludden (Alex Lee, 73); Kevin Barrett (Enda Curran, 65), Ollie Keogh, Kevin Crehan, Dan Cunningham (Gerry Burke, 73); David O’Dowd, Rory Gaffney.
Unused Substitutes: Mike Elwood, Padraig Lally.

Referee: John McLoughlin.

Official Attendance: 2,192.

Extratime Man of the Match: Shane Duggan.