Doyle saves the day for Cork

Cork City 1, Derry City 0

Doyle rose above the Derry City defence in the 80th minute to head a goal that helped Cork stay third in the League and add to Derry’s relegation worries.

Derry’s frantic efforts to save the game should have produced an equalising goal for they lost two glorious chances in the rough and tumble of a crowded goalmouth as Cork struggled to deny them. First it was Gareth McGlynn who ran on to a cross from Mark Farren and shot across goal and wide with six minutes left to play. And when Ciaran Martyn hooked a shot over from six yards just a minute before the final whistle Derry knew it was not to be their night.

Cork manager Pat Dolan rang the changes from the team that was out-played in Waterford. There were four changes in personnel and Cork operated with another new combination at centre-forward where 19-year-old Jamie Nolan partnered George O’Callaghan.

Derry’s desperate search for points to take them clear of the relegation area was not helped by the absence of four of their regulars. They were heavily defensive in their line-up with a line of five defenders protecting goalkeeper Alan Gough and Gary Beckett operating as a lone centre-forward.

Beckett showed how dangerous he could be when Cork’s defenders were lax in the 36th minute. Beckett was allowed control a pass from Robert Hedderman before turning to get in a shot from 22 yards against a retreating defence turned over with difficulty by goalkeeper Michael Devine.

Cork’s first-half performance lacked pace and it was not until the teams’ changed ends that they injected a note of urgency into their play. Cork’s difficulty scoring in the absence of their leading goalscorer John O’Flynn was reflected in their return of just two goals from their previous five matches and they took a long time to threaten goalkeeper Alan Gough as Derry smothered their every attack in the first half.

Cork played with more purpose in the second half when they stepped up the pace. The combination of a better passing game allied to a greater degree of urgency succeeded in giving Cork the foothold they needed in Derry’s half to build the pressure on the Derry defence. Those tactics finally paid off when Doyle was switched from the wing to his more natural position at centre-forward.

The goal followed a smooth piece of football as O’Callaghan set up Neal Horgan for a cross from the right wing. Horgan struck the ball sweetly and Doyle timed his jump to perfection as he rose to deflect it wide of goalkeeper Alan Gough and into the net. It was just the boost he needed prior to travelling to the UAE with his Irish colleagues at the end of the week and it was a goal that also kept alive Cork’s hopes of Inter-Toto competition next season.

Cork City (4-4-2): Devine; Horgan, Coughlan, Murray, Woods; Doyle, O'Grady (Bennett 85), Nwankwo, Casey; Nolan (Behan 88), O’Callaghan.

Derry City (5-4-1): Gough; Deery (Mullan 84), Simms, McCallion, McLaughlin, Hedderman; McGlynn (Molyneaux 88), Doherty, Martyn, Holt (Farren 84); Beckett.

Referee: I Stokes (Dublin).