Mervue United 1 - 2 Cork City

• Peter O'Connor
• Sat, Aug 20 2011


Cork city resumed their winning ways at Fahy’s Field on Friday night, with a narrow one goal victory over Mervue United.

Mervue came into the game on a high after demolishing local rivals Salthill Devon by five goals to nil the previous week, but they were always going to find promotion chasing Cork a tougher nut to crack. City came out of the blocks the quicker of the two teams and dominated possession in the opening few minutes, with Vincent Escude-Candau and Shane Duggan dictating possession in the middle of the park.

The early possession was put to good use after the away side took the lead with their first real attempt on target. With four minutes on the clock, full back Danny Murphy powered forward from left back and cut inside towards the penalty box. Following a neat one-two with Gavin Kavanagh, he let fly from inside the area and keeper Ger Hanley could only make a parrying save. Graham Cummins reacted quickest to the rebound and headed into an empty net to give the visitors the lead.

Cork maintained the early pressure and dominated for the opening quarter of the game, playing the type of controlled football expected of a team chasing premier division status. Daryl Horgan was next to threaten the Mervue goal as he cut inside from the left on twelve minutes, only to see his powerful strike go straight into Hanley’s hands.

Mervue’s first chance of note came after thirteen minutes when the in form Peter Dravins struck wide of the Cork goal from distance. The Mervue striker came even closer two minutes later. After some excellent interplay with the marauding full back David O’Brien, Dravins saw his latest long range effort fly narrowly over the crossbar. Mervue had another decent opportunity in the twenty first minute when Mark Ludden’s cross from the left found Jason Molloy in the area, but his header went straight into the hands of Mark McNulty.

Horgan then almost made it two nil, with an audacious chip from all of twenty five yards, only to see his effort go narrowly over. The Cork pressure continued with Cummins again going close. After getting past the keeper, his pull back was cleared by the recovering Kevin Crehan.

City continued to dominate possession, with a few fleeting opportunities for the home side, and this domination saw Cork get their second goal in the forty first minute. The highly impressive Gearoid Morrissey managed to break free in midfield and made a surging run towards the right wing. He then played a perfect cross towards the back post where Cummins managed to  get in front of his marker and tap home his second of the night.

The result looked to be heading only one way at this stage but the next ten minutes of the game ensured that this would be anything but easy for the Leesiders. Within two minutes of going two nil up, Cork were reduced to ten men. Alex Lee cut inside on the right wing and Shane Duggan came racing out to meet him with a fierce challenge. Referee Phil Caschera adjudged the challenge to be two footed and had no hesitation in showing a straight red card, ensuring the home side would have a distinct advantage going into the second half.

This advantage was further boosted immediately after the restart when Mervue were awarded a penalty. Ludden whipped in a decent cross from the left which Dravins was allowed to take down on his chest. As he was about to pull the trigger he was upended by Kalen Spillane who received a booking for the clumsy challenge. Pat Hoban stepped up to slot the penalty into the bottom left corner, sending McNulty the wrong way in the process.

This began a fifteen minute spell when Mervue dominated possession and managed to put some sustained pressure on the visitors. Their best chance fell to Hoban who found himself unmarked in the box for a free header. However he failed to trouble Mcnulty, heading narrowly wide.

Cork’s discipline came into question during this period, and both Ian Turner and Danny Murphy picked up bookings for some indiscipline whilst under pressure. Mervue’s James Casserly also found his name in the notebook on the sixty fifth minute after he challenged McNulty in the air under a right wing corner. Unfortunately the keeper took a knock to the head in this challenge and was unable to continue.

The remainder of the second half continued with Mervue in charge, without really testing the substitute keeper James McCarthy seriously. It was, in fact, Horgan who had the best chance of the half on eighty one minutes who, after beating the keeper, decided it necessary to try beat the last defender as well. Hanley however recovered well and got down to claim the ball at the second time of asking.

The last few minutes of the game saw substitute Shane Keogh play some decent crosses into the Cork box, but without any clear cut chances for a frustrated home side. Cork will be happy with the three points at a ground they recognize the difficulty in coming to, while Mervue will be disappointed they couldn’t use their numerical advantage to create more goal-scoring opportunities.

Mervue United: Ger Hanley; David O’Brien, Marc Ludden, Martin Conneely (Capt.), James Casserly (Shane Keogh, 78); Kevin Crehan, Alex Lee (Etanda Nkololo, 54), John Mountney, Jason Molloy; Pat Hoban, Peter Dravins (Barry McEntee. 76).
Subs not used: Mike Elwood, Brian O’Donoghue.

Booked: James Casserly, Martin Conneely.

Cork City: Mark McNulty; Ian Turner (James McCarthy, 65), Kalen Spillane, Gavin Kavanagh, Danny  Murphy; Gearoid Morrissey, Shane Duggan, Derek O’Brien (Vinny Sullivan 82), Daryl Horgan; Vincent Escude- Candau (Danny Morrissey, 93).
Subs not used: Greg O’Halloran, Craig Burns, Cathal Lordan, Eoin McGreevey.

Booked: Ian Turner, Danny Murphy.
Sent off: Shane Duggan.

Referee: Phil Caschera.

Attendance: 351


Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Gearoid Morrissey (Cork City)