O’Neill slots winner to sneak Cork past battling Bluebell

A WELL-TAKEN Davin O’Neill goal was enough to give Cork City victory in this FAI Ford Cup third-round replay but the First Division team were pushed all the way in Bray by a Bluebell United side who did the Leinster Senior League proud with a classy performance which deserved more than the pain of cup defeat.

Making light of a slippery pitch, gloomy low cloud and a tiny attendance, both sides went at it with plenty of the required cup passion. An early Gearoid Morrissey drive forced Mark Clohessy, a hero for Bluebell at Turner’s Cross, into a smart diving save while, at the other end, Cork were grateful to left-full John Dineen for a precisely-timed tackle on a treacherous surface to snuff out a threatening move by a lively and purposeful Bluebell side.

In Cork’s 4-5-1 formation, Davin O’Neill was finding plenty of space on the right but the final ball into the box was proving ineffective and when the winger did get a sight of goal, Bluebell’s big defender Niall Donnelly was prepared to put his body in the line of fire for the cause. And with Peter Sherlock outstanding beside him at the heart of defence, the Dubliners belied their nominal minnows status the longer the game went on.

Cork’s own cause appeared to suffer a setback 10 minutes before the break when, having already received lengthy treatment, a struggling Graham Cummins was forced off to be replaced by Paul Deasy as the lone front man. But City avoided worse right on the stroke of half-time when, having tangled with Bluebell striker Darren Meade and then pushed him to the ground, captain Cathal Lordan was lucky to see only a yellow card.

Substitute Deasy had looked isolated up front since his introduction but, in the 57th minute, the striker took smart advantage of a Bluebell player slipping under a high kick from Mark McNulty to square the ball to O’Neill, who had the time and space to beat Clohessy with a composed finish.

Bluebell tried hard to get back on level terms, Ciaran Quinn sending a low drive just wide of McNulty’s post before Greg O’Halloran had to clear an Ian Cherry effort off the line. And they came even closer in the 71st minute when, from a fine Daragh Hollingsworth cross, Darren Meade’s diving header bounced off the post.

It was pretty much all Bluebell from there to the end, with more than a little ping-pong in the Cork box, but the Leesiders held on to the lead, their reward for this hard-earned victory a home time against either Monaghan United or FC Carlow in the next round.

BLUEBELL UNITED: Clohessy; Cherry, Donnelly, Sherlock, Kenny; Hollingsworth, Doyle, Keddy, Crowley (Dunning 80); Meade, Quinn (Behan 82).

CORK CITY: McNulty; Turner, O’Halloran, Mulcahy, Dineen (R. Morrissey), O’Neill, G. Morrissey, Duggan, Lordan, Heffernan (Warren 60), Cummins (Deasy 35).

Referee: Derek Tomney (Dublin).