Cork City 1 - 0 Wexford Youths

• Alan Smith
• Fri, Mar 04 2011


Cork City got their 2011 Airtricity League First Division campaign off to a solid, though not spectacular, start thanks to a 1-0 win over a lacklustre Wexford Youths side at Turner’s Cross on Friday night.

In the build-up to this curtain-raiser, much of the pre-match talk surrounded two newly-elected TD’s – City Board of Management member Jonathan O’Brien and Youths boss Mick Wallace. And while Cork’s attempts to top the First Division poll will see many twists and turns along the rocky road that a season inevitably becomes, they got the vote here thanks to a solitary goal from Vinny Sullivan just before half-time.

Cork boss Tommy Dunne had stated prior to kick-off the he expects his side to get at least seven points from their opening three games, and with an historic encounter against Mervue United at Fahy’s Field next-up for the Leesiders, you’d fancy them to go very close to that ambitious early total.

Wexford, on this early showing, have a lot to do if they want to stay away from the cluster of teams expected to form at the bottom of the table. They were incredibly poor in attack, despite one or two decent defensive performances. And the loss of Gary Sheahan is likely to be a major problem on this 90 minutes of evidence.

The first effort of note came in the ninth minute when Greg O’Halloran hooked the ball goalwards, only for the usually clinical Graham Cummins to head narrowly wide from six yards out. It was a sign of things to come, nonetheless. Cummins combined well with Vinny Sullivan up front and the former found himself with space to run into as a quick break ended with Packie Holden stopping his powerful effort from the outside of his boot.

Youths were unable to get much ball forward to Danny Furlong, and his frustrations were clearly evident with the away side pinned back inside their own half constantly. Still, Greg Yelverton did a solid job just in front of the defence, stifling City at times with his unerring pressure, while Anto Russell won a lot of ball in the air from centre back. They were two of few bright points for the away side though, in a game they struggled badly to create anything worth shouting about in front of goal.

Indeed, luck did appear to be on Youths’ side up until a minute before the break, with the nifty midfield duo of Vincent Escudé-Candau and Gearoid Morrissey having shots blocked. The dominant pressure eventually paid off though, as Morrissey’s inviting cross was knocked across goal into the path of Sullivan and he poked home from six yards into the middle of the goal just on the brink of half-time.

Unsurprisingly City were back on the front foot immediately after the break and Sullivan missed the target from two great positions in the space of a minute as the home team wasted a chance to kill Youths off. Firstly he toe-poked wide from a terrific one-on-one situation, before heading inches over the bar six yards from goal soon after.

The game became scrappy as the second half wore on, and despite Youths failing to get a single shot on target, Cork looked happy to sit on the single goal advantage when Shane Duggan replaced Sullivan. That resulted in the home side moving to five in midfield, with Escudé-Candau feeding off lone striker Cummins. It didn’t do much to alter the game either, as City controlled the game with Morrissey’s passing particularly impressive in midfield.

Kalen Spillane did get sent off two minutes from time with a second yellow card, but Furlong wasted the ensuing free-kick blasting it miles over, typifying Youths’ night.

Cork City: Mark McNulty; Neal Horgan, Kalen Spillane, Gavin Kavanagh, Danny Murphy; Davin O’Neill, Greg O’Halloran, Vincent Escudé-Candau (Timmy Kiely, 83), Gearoid Morrissey; Vinny Sullivan (Shane Duggan, 67), Graham Cummins.
Subs not used: Ian Turner, James McCarthy, Kieran Keneally, Jamie Murphy, Simon Holland.

Booked: Spillane (30), Morrissey (33)

Sent off: Spillane (88)

Wexford Youths: Patrick Holden; Karl Keogh, Anto Russell, Anthony Wolfe, Martin Kehoe; Ben Ryan (Dave Grincell, 76), Craig Wall, Greg Yelverton (Max Cream, 76), Shane Nolan; Danny Furlong, Muzzi Mullen (Patsy Malone, 63).
Subs not used: Garret McCurtin, Darragh Walshe.

Booked: Ryan (8)

Official Attendance: 2,149

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Gearoid Morrissey

Referee: Stuart Templeman (Clare).