Cork City Football Club suffered their first loss of the season as a physically stronger Waterford United took all the points from Turner’s Cross on Friday night.
While losing a Munster derby is never enjoyable, City can take solace from the fact that this is a very strong Waterford side and the experience will surely be of benefit.
Shane Duggan in midfield showed some promise for City while others also battled hard, but ultimately Waterford possessed far more of an attacking threat.
After the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Dara Murphy, had been introduced to the sides, the game kicked off, 10 minutes left due to crowd congestion outside the ground – the final figure was 4,401 – but it took a while to come to life, bar a couple of half-chances for both sides.
City, who made one change from the draw with Derry last week as Shane Duggan came in for Paul Deasy, looked solid and composed at the back, Dave Rogers imperious in the air, but at the same time there was not too much penetration of the visitors’ defence.
Waterford, featuring no less than five players who had featured in the colours of Cork City at one stage or another, gradually began to get on top however, and one of those, Gareth Cambridge, had a shot from distance deflected wide.
Then, just before the half-hour mark, another former City player, Vinny Sullivan, was adjudged to have been fouled by a combination of Stephen Mulcahy and Eoin Forde just inside the box and referee Padraig Sutton whistle for a penalty despite protests from the home team and fans.
Yet another former Cork City player, Alan Carey, made no mistake from the spot, beating Mark McNulty with his low kick, and five minutes later Waterford had a chance of making it two, but Willie John Kiely shot straight at McNulty from the edge of the D.
With no further incidents of note in the half, it was still 1-0 for Waterford at the break, though City began to show more endeavour at the outset of the second period. Right-back Ian Turner wasn’t far away with a low long-range shot and then Mulcahy had a shot blocked after Greg O’Halloran kept a corner kick in play.
Despite being on the back foot however, Waterford were still threatening, as evidenced when McNulty had to keep out a close-range shot by Kiely, before they struck for a second in the 61st minute. After City gave the ball away cheaply in midfield, Gareth Cambridge worked the ball to Waterford left-back John Kearney and his excellent cross was met brilliantly on the volley by Sullivan at the back post, giving McNulty no chance.
After that, the Blues continued to have the better chances, Kearney being denied by McNulty from 20 yards and then setting up Paul McCarthy with a good run only for the midfielder to blaze over.
With the tails up, the Waterford fans took this opportunity to unveil a banner proclaiming that “You can’t buy history”, but the home faithful soon retorted with chants of “What’s it like to see a crowd?” and “Six weeks old and we’re bigger than you”.
City, to their credit, never gave up, William Heffernan showing some nice touches and Turner trying to get forward well from right-back, while sub Paul Deasy was unlucky not to find the net near the end and the supporters stayed in fine voice until the end.
Things did get worse eight minutes from time when Greg O’Halloran was sent off for a foul on Waterford sub David Grincell, and in the end City could have had no qualms with the outcome, but they know that not every team that comes to the Cross will be as good as Waterford.
CORK CITY FORAS CO-OP
Starting Line-Up: McNulty; Turner, O’Halloran, Rogers, Mulcahy; Heffernan, Lordan, Duggan, Forde; O’Neill, Cummins.
Subs: Deasy for Cummins (66), Warren for Heffernan (86).
WATERFORD UNITED
Scorers: Carey (29mins, pen), Sullivan (61mins).
Starting Line-Up: Konopka; Carey, Long, Murray, J Kearney; Cambridge, Dunphy, McCarthy, L Kearney; Sullivan, Kiely.
Subs: Grincell for Kiely (72), Pucell for Cambridge (78), O’Sullivan for McCarthy (87).
Referee: P. Sutton.
Attendance: 4,401.
