Monaghan United 1 - 1 Cork City

• Peter Hughes
• Sat, Jun 18 2011


Cork City will be mighty relieved and Monaghan United mighty frustrated at the point each earned in this absorbing clash of two of the Airtricity League First Division’s leading promotion contenders at Gortakeegan.

Cork had to summon massive reserves of defensive resilience to compensate for the 59th minute sending off of defender Gavin Kavanagh and preserve their unbeaten season record.

That they succeeded will sit uncomfortably with the Mons who were the dominant force in the game even when the numerical odds were even but failed to capitalise on Kavanagh’s dismissal and in fact played rather disjointedly in the game’s final third.

City might have taken an early lead when a lapse of United defensive concentration in the ninth minute allowed Derek O’Brien’s cross to find Graham Cummins in the box. Cummins laid off astutely for strike partner Vinny Sullivan whose angled shot flashed just wide of the post.

A minute later United were in front. With Cork ‘keeper Mark McNulty and his defence aligned to deal with a cross, Sean Brennan audaciously struck for goal from a free-kick position nearer to the sideline than the edge of the box, and the ball flashed home to stun the visitors.

For the next 20 minutes Roddy Collins’ side barely gave City a moment of rest. John Reilly drove hurriedly off-target from a great position just inside the box, and a string of good chances fell to winger Jason Marks, who sent a volley and a header just shy of the net at the end of accomplished passing movements.

But on the half-hour Cork broke away to level the game. Graham Cummins was simply irresistible in the United box, holding off all comers and only being denied by desperate blocks from defender Alan Byrne and keeper Gabriel Sava. But from Sava’s save the ball broke loose for Sullivan, who emphatically finished from six yards.

Gearoid Morrissey almost whipped a 35th minute free-kick into the top corner for City, but United were the stronger force for the remainder of the half, Alan Byrne coming agonisingly close to a headed connection with Eric Foley’s cross that would surely have restored their lead, and Sean Brennan shooting high of the target after a buccaneering run down the right wing by Marks.

The second half, played mostly in a downpour, was initially a cagey, even affair. But when Kavanagh was shown red by referee Neil Doyle – his full-blooded challenge on Ryan Brennan made to appear perhaps worse than it was by the slick underfoot conditions – the balance of the game appeared to swing decisively in United’s favour.

A fine fingertip save from McNulty kept out a Sean Brennan drive as the Mons sought to take immediate advantage, but they were if anything a little too anxious to exploit their superiority in numbers, and for all their possession their play lacked the crispness and precision they had displayed in the first half.

Substitute Shane Fitzgerald came close with two headed chances, but the best opportunity for a Monaghan winner fell in the 75th minute to Fabio O’Brien who, liberated by Sean Brennan’s inch- perfect pass, swept past McNulty and whipped the ball goalwards from a sharp angle only to see it deflect off the head of the desperately back-pedalling Morrissey and fly clear of the unprotected net.

Monaghan United: Sava; Whelan (Fitzgerald 67), A Byrne, Collins, Grimes; Reilly, Foley, R Brennan, Marks (Isichei 82); O’Brien, S Brennan.
Subs not used: Tierney, Loughran, P Byrne

Cork City: McNulty; Murphy, Spillane, Kavanagh, Mulcahy; G Morrissey, O’Halloran, Escude-Candau, O’Brien (O’Neill 76); Cummins, Sullivan
Subs not used: Burns, D Morrissey, McCarthy, Murphy

Referee: Neil Doyle