Late equaliser from Derry adds insult to City injury

Cork City 1 Derry City 1

But, given the current tentative situation on Leeside, substitute Thomas Stewart’s 87th-minute strike will hurt that little bit more this time around, even if on that occasion, 94 minutes had elapsed by the time Conor Sammon had emerged the Candystripes’ hero.

It had been all going Cork’s way although they took a while to turn their dominance into a goal; Darragh Ryan’s 65th-minute header ending a sustained period of Cork pressure. Ahead of this Saturday’s FAI Ford Cup quarter-final clash, the psychological edge might be all Derry’s this morning, but the home side will now have an even bigger incentive dangling in front of them.

There was plenty of willingness to compete in the face of off field adversity on the part of the home side, their 30% pay cheques not exactly reflected in the amount of effort put in on the pitch. Indeed both sides went in full blooded in an engrossing opening half that yielded five yellow cards but little in the way of goal scoring opportunities.

As close as either side got to breaking the deadlock was Darren Murphy’s header just over the Derry bar with four minutes to go to the break.

Alan O’Connor replaced the injured Lordan at half time, a straight swap on the right wing, and was immediately involved when trying to draw a penalty 30 seconds after coming on. Referee Tomas Connolly showed no interest though.

Just a minute later, Darren Murphy hit the side netting when perhaps squaring to Kearney was the better option and as Cork continued to bombard the away defence, a Ryan pull back to O’Connor at the edge of the box forced Gerard Doherty into a one handed save.

The City momentum was curtailed slightly when a rash Mark McChrystal challenge saw the influential Behan removed from the action for almost 10 minutes either side of the hour mark. But it mattered little because by the time he had returned with stitches to his right leg, his team mates had conspired to take the lead in his absence.

WB Yeats wrote about anarchy saying that when “things fall apart, the centre cannot hold”. Such was the abandon of the 10 men of Cork City that central midfielder Darren Murphy popped up on the right hand corner to feed O’Connor. And left winger Ryan, normally a defender, was the unlikely contender to meet O’Connor’s excellent cross, but he did so bravely, notching his first-ever goal for the Rebel Army.

That 65th-minute header sent the beleaguered home crowd into sudden raptures. It heralded chants of “we only need 10 men” whereas before there had been pleas through song of “we want 11”. With Behan struggling on his return, their wish was finally forced into being, Billy Woods replacing a the impressive striker who will be a serious worry ahead of the cup match.

But it was nothing like the blow that was about to come. That goal actually marked the end of their dominance as they began to invite Derry on to them. Keeper Michael Devine finally found himself called into action and one of those from whom he had to save was just introduced Thomas Stewart.

Only on the pitch seven minutes, the former Linfield player then conspired to grab a share of the spoils when given time to turn 30 yards out, he released a left-footed drive than was helped home by the greasy surface.

A club as down on its luck as Cork City was never going to take advantage of the six minutes of injury time on offer and they’ll now have to use the pain of yet another kick in the teeth to keep their cup defence up and running.

CORK CITY: M Devine; N Horgan, S Kelly, D Murray (capt), Danny Murphy; C Lordan, Darren Murphy, C Healy, D Ryan; L Kearney; D Behan.

Subs: A O’Connor for Lordan (ht); B Woods for Behan (72). M McNulty, G Cambridge & T Kiely not used.

DERRY CITY: G Doherty; G McGlynn (capt), C Delaney, M McChrystal, S Hargan; K McHugh, K Deery, R Higgins, N McGinn; S Morrow, M Farren.

Subs: J McLean for McHugh (72); T Stewart for Morrow (80). E McCallion, D Quigley & A Callaghan not used.

Att: 1,972.

Referee: Tomas Connolly (Dublin).