O’Donovan spot on for City

DESPITE giving an admirable account of themselves, Shelbourne, the former giants of Irish football, couldn’t turn giant killers at Tolka Park, as a first half Roy O’Donovan penalty was enough to see Cork City through to the next round of the FAI Ford Cup.

As if the implosion of their title-winning team wasn’t enough to deal with, the new-look Shels were down six regulars last night, including the experienced Jim Crawford who was ruled out with a knee injury. Indeed, a measure of the personnel crisis facing manager Dermot Keely was the fact that three of his bench had to be drawn from the youth team.

Everything changes but, even amid unseasonable weather, the surface at Tolka Park was pristine, a perfect invitation to get the ball down and play it about. Cork City, with Michael Devine back between the posts and Liam Kearney and Billy Woods manning the flanks, tried to do just that against a young Shels side which showed plenty of underdog bite and some enterprising moves of their own. But while the Dubliners lacked decisiveness on the final ball, City made no mistake with a gifted opportunity early on.