Monaghan miss chance to finish off City

Monaghan United 1

Cork City surely have more room for improvement for Tuesday's replay after an unexceptional contest which provided little evidence to differentiate between the relative standing of the two teams.

Cork presented the more balanced challenge as you would expect and created more scoring chances, but Monaghan were close to achieving an upset. Little wonder their manager, Bobby Browne, spoke in optimistic terms afterwards.

"This tie is far from over" he said, "we had chances to win that. We have a young team and the experience of playing in Cork will stand to them. And we will go there without fear after matching them on the day. We could have won it."

He did not exaggerate. Cork goalkeeper Michael Devine had to show good timing and a brave heart when he dived at the feet of substitute Richie Parsons five minutes from time.

Devine must have breathed a sigh of relief when Alan King stole behind the defence to reach a free from goalkeeper Paul Flood only to deflect the ball wide seconds earlier. And Gareth Cronin rescued Cork with a timely tackle on Darren McKenna in the 48th minute.

The manner in which the Cork defence allowed Flood's free from deep inside his own half sail over their heads for King to run clear told a significant story: Cork were far from sharp. There was evidence of it in every line of the team defence, midfield and in attack.

The most significant factor in the match was that Monaghan were allowed play at their own pace. Cork never passed the ball often enough or sharply enough to stretch them physically and so they surrendered their potential superiority.

Monaghan were sustained by a lead goal after just nine minutes. It came from a free wide on the left which was questioned by a puzzled Cork manager, Liam Murphy, afterwards: "I honestly do not know what the referee could have found fault with."

Murphy had a point for Stephen Napier won the ball cleanly off the Monaghan striker. But maybe Greg O'Halloran, who was dogging his opponent's heels, had restrained him. Either way, it made no difference to John Lester who struck the free superbly into the roof of Devine's net from 30 yards.

Those who succeed in sustaining Monaghan United at this level of competition deserve nothing but praise and their compact complex is a credit to all concerned. But the bounce of the ball on the pitch was not always predictable and it did not help the standard of football.

Cork suffered, however, because they had no midfield player with the authority to demand the ball off their defence and their football was fragmented and inconsistent. Greg O'Halloran was a notable exception for after a good first half he excelled wide on the right in the second.

He struck the crossbar with a powerful shot with his weaker left foot after 30 minutes and produced the equalising goal after 59. Monaghan goalkeeper Paul Flood was prevented from reaching a right-wing corner from Billy Woods by the congested nature of the penalty area and while he flailed helplessly at the ball, O'Halloran rose to head it cleanly past him.

"I lost count of the chances we missed in the first half and John O'Flynn had two claims for penalties ignored" said Cork manager Liam Murphy, "we had a lot of possession in the second half and they did not look dangerous until the last five minutes."

That raised the question: Was that a criticism of Cork or in praise of Monaghan? Tuesday's replay should tell.

MONAGHAN UNITED (4-4-2); Flood; Mahady, Scully, Slevin, McDonnell; Lester, Shiels, Byrne (Parsons 82), Hysa (King 62); McKenna, Vaughan (Field 18).

CORK CITY (4-4-2): Devine; Carey, Napier, Cronin, Horgan; O'Halloran, Bennett, Reynolds (C. P. O'Brien 90), Woods; O'Callaghan (C. T. O'Brien 82), O'Flynn.

Referee: Mr. H. Whoriskey (Dublin).