Waterford United 1-1 Cork City Foras Co-op

• Brendan White
• Sat, May 22 2010


Waterford United and Cork City played out an entertaining 1-1 draw in the RSC on Friday evening in the Airtricity First Division.

Waterford looked to keep up with league leaders Derry City, while Cork City looked to remain in and around the promotion places. Seamus Long returned to the Waterford starting 11 following four weeks out with Gary Dunphy also back in the starting line-up replacing Paul Carey and Willie John Kiely. Tommy Dunne named an unchanged City team.

The game started slowly but gathered pace as the first few minutes passed. George O’Callaghan had the first shot of the game but his free kick hit the side netting with McNulty having his post well covered.

Minutes later Cork City produced one of the moves of the match. Eoin Forde played the ball down City’s left wing where Shane Duggan whipped in a near post cross. Cathal Lordan reached the ball first and fired a low shot to the bottom corner, but Waterford keeper Chris Konopka got down to superbly flick it past the post.

Waterford were forced to reshuffle after just 13 minutes. Midfielder and captain Paul McCarthy, left the field injured being replaced by Paul Carey. Carey slotted in at full back with Alan Carey moving to centre back, while John Kearney moved into midfield.

City continued to pressure Waterford and could, and probably should, have taken the lead after 18 minutes. Blues keeper Chris Konopka raced from his goal to clear a long ball on Waterford's left. His clearance fell straight to the feet of Davin O’Neill, who looked up and shot toward the open goal, but his long range effort drifted over the bar.

Ten minutes later Waterford had two quick chances but both failed to trouble McNulty. Firstly George O'Callaghan whipped in a right wing cross which was met by Vinny Sullivan's head, but he could only steer it into the side netting. The resulting kick out from McNulty went to Dunphy, he played in O'Callaghan, but the ex-City player skewed his shot just wide.

The game then erupted to life with two goals in the space of three minutes. O’Callaghan’s free kick from the right seemed to evade everyone but Seamus Long kept the ball alive by heading back into the penalty area. His header never reached a blue jersey but was deflected into his own net by City defender Uros Hojan to give Waterford the lead.

Three minutes later though Cork City were level. Cathal Lordan’s free kick from the right was met by the head of Graham Cummins who found the bottom right corner. Cummins, Waterford top scorer last season, quickly glanced toward the Waterford fans to continue the usual banter among fans and former players.

The final minutes of the first period began to get heated as Referee Sean Grant battled to keep hold of the game. O’Callaghan was blatantly clattered from behind by Lordan, but nothing was given, much to his and his Manager Stephen Henderson’s bemusement.

The second half didn’t live up to the excitement of the first half but both teams will feel they had chances to win the game.

City had a goal cancelled out for offside 15 minutes after the restart. Graham Cummins swung in a right wing cross, where Cathal Lordan met it with an improvised overhead flick which brought a superb save from Chris Konopka. Shane Duggan tapped in the rebound, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Cork had another great chance to take the lead on 68 minutes. Cummins again supplied the cross, but Davin O’Neill scuffed his shot wide of Konopka’s post.

An 18 man scuffle then stopped the game for a short time, with Duggan and John Kearney found as the guilty parties and receiving yellow cards. To round off a frustrating evening for O’Callaghan, he was replaced in the final ten minutes by David Grincell as Waterford looked for a winner.

That winning goal almost arrived in the 90th minute, but it was City who almost grabbed it. Deasy’s left wing cross evaded everyone but came crashing back off the crossbar. Minutes later Shane Duggan readied to shoot in the penalty box, but Blues keeper Chris Konopka rushed from his goal and smothered the chance.

Waterford United will be happiest with the point but Cork City will rue missed chances in the second half. A point a piece keep both teams in the push for promotion.

Waterford United: Konopka; A Carey, Long, J Kearney, L Kearney; Purcell, Dunphy, McCarthy (P Carey 13), Waters (Cambridge 76); O’Callaghan (Grincell 83’), Sullivan.
Subs not used: Burns, Keane.
Booked: Sullivan, O’Callaghan, J. Kearney, A. Carey.

Cork City: McNulty, Turner, Mulcahy, Hojan (Rogers 67), O’Halloran, Cathal Lordan, Duggan, Cillian Lordan, Forde (Deasy 72), O’Neill, Cummins.
Subs not used: Devine, Heffernan, Morrissey.
Booked: Cathal Lordan, Duggan, Turner.

Referee: Sean Grant (Wexford)
Attendance: 1078
Extratime Man of the Match: Cillian Lordan