Cork City’s second half of the season got off to a rough start after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Limerick at Turner’s Cross.
Tommy Dunne handed debuts to new signings Gavin Kavanagh, John Meade and Billy Woods, while former City player Timmy Kiely lined out for the Shannonsiders for the first time.
Dunne’s men found themselves trailing their opponents from an early stage after Limerick opened the scoring with just ten minutes on the clock. Thomas Lyons corner kick was met by Pat Purcell, and after a lengthy goal-mouth scramble, Nigel Stanley headed the ball past Mark McNulty to give his side the lead.
City were handed a lifeline just six minutes later and found themselves level. Billy Woods made space for a cross from the left, and he drove the ball across goal. With none of Woods’ team-mates in sight, Limerick left-back John Boyle fired the clearance into his own net. The remainder of the first half was lively, with John Tierney and Tim Kiely coming close for the visitors, while the Leesiders had some efforts on goal through Greg O’Halloran and Gearóid Morrissey.
Limerick regained the lead shortly after the restart. John Tierney took the ball past Gavin Kavanagh and rolled the ball to Shane Tracey who made no mistake and fired home from close range. The continued the pressure, with Shane Clarke almost scoring a third with a spectacular diving header that went just inches past the post.
An equaliser looks unlikely, as City struggled to have any real effort on target for the remainder of the game. Ian Turner had a shot deflected out for a corner, while new signing Derek Varian had two shots in the dying stages that didn’t trouble Dave Ryan.
Cork City
Starting Line-Up: McNulty, Turner, Mulcahy, Kavanagh, Meade, Woods, O’Halloran, Cillian Lordan, Morrissey, O’Neill, Cummins.
Substitutions: Varian for Morrissey (73mins), Deasy for Meade (90mins).
Limerick
Starting Line-Up: Ryan, Kelly, Boyle, White, Stanley, Purcell, Kavanagh, Lyons, Kiely, Tracy, Tierney.
Substitutions: O’Leary for Lyons (46mins), Clarke for Tracy (66mins), Deady for Tierney (79mins).
Referee: J.Grimes.
Official Attendance: 1247.
