Early goal paves way for Shels

Cork City 0, Shelbourne 2

An early Shels breakaway gave sharp centre-forward Jason Byrne the opportunity to fire them into a lead they never surrendered. And when Byrne took advantage of an unfortunate mistake by Cork’s Alan Bennett to snatch a second after 71 minutes there was no disputing the merits of their win.

Byrne was their goal-scoring hero but goalkeeper Steve Williams was their best player, as the talented former Welsh U21 international defied Cork’s best efforts with some brave defending.

Cork struggled to get to grips with the pace of the game as Shelbourne controlled the flow. Their early goal gave them the confidence to dominate Cork, who failed to subdue them in midfield. They were fortunate not to lose more than one goal in that first half.

The problems Cork had in midfield were illustrated by the team changes manager Pat Dolan called for after 25 minutes. Kevin Murray, who struggled out of position wide on the left, was switched to central midfield with Colin T. O’Brien reverting to the right wing and Kevin Doyle switching to the left.

Shels’ strength was more uniformly spread across their midfield four, with Jim Crawford setting a good example in the middle. Full-backs Owen Heary and Dave Crawley contributed generously as well with accurate distribution and there was a balance to Shels that contrasted with the more fragmented football of Cork.

Cork were virtually exclusively dependent upon their two strikers, George O’Callaghan and John O’Flynn, for penetration and they both did marvellously well in view of the lack of service they received. They were responsible for Cork’s only attacking moves of note despite the fact that they were always under pressure as they sought to get on the ball.

Yet they were close to conjuring up an equaliser after 31 minutes when O’Callaghan carried the ball forward following a free-kick on halfway. O’Flynn played a neat return into his path and O’Callaghan’s shot from 25 yards was saved low down by Williams.

Cork had firm claims for a penalty denied in the subsequent scramble as Conor O’Grady’s attempts to get on the rebound were frustrated by Owen Heary. But while Cork might have claimed an equaliser in any of these incidents, it was significant that it was O’Flynn and O’Callaghan who were responsible on each occasion.

Shels were denied a second goal in the 18th minute by Billy Woods’ timely intervention as he cleared off the line after Dave Rogers had beaten Devine with a header from Morgan’s right-wing corner.

There was always a greater threat in their attacking play with Jason Byrne and Ger McCarthy in lively form and Ollie Cahill stretching Cork on the left with his pacey runs.

Devine did well to turn away Jason Byrne’s powerful shot in the 21st minute after Cahill’s accurate lob across the face of the goal had given him a shooting chance. And it needed a timely interception by Alan Bennett to deny Byrne again on the call of half-time after McCarthy had cut inside Woods.

To their credit, Cork did not spare themselves after the interval when they stepped up the pace of their game and forced Shels ever deeper with the intensity of their play. It was more an emotional response than a measured one but the pressure they maintained on the Shels defence almost forced an equaliser.

Bennett came forward to get his head to a cross from O’Callaghan and force Williams to a great one-handed save while the goalkeeper was happy to concede a corner again when O’Flynn hammered one goalwards after 66 minutes from substitute Denis Behan’s marvellous pass.

Yet the fire of Cork’s revival was doused when Bennett made his disastrous error in the 71st minute by leaving an attempted passback short and Jason Byrne turned the ball neatly past the advancing Devine from 25 yards.

The goal helped produce a scoreline that was more a reflection of the relative strengths of the teams as Shels showed the character to profit from their early joy to show just why they are this season’s leading team.

CORK CITY (4-4-2): Devine; Horgan (Carey 76) Bennett, Murray, Woods; Doyle, C. T. O'Brien (C. P. O'Brien 86), O'Grady, Murray (Behan 53); O'Callaghan, O'Flynn.

SHELBOURNE (4-4-2): Williams; Heary, Rogers, Doherty, Crawley; Morgan, S. Byrne (R. Baker 68), Crawford, Cahill; McCarthy (Geoghegan 86), J. Byrne.

Referee: J. McDermott (Dublin).