Shels maintain play-off bid as City’s effort fails

Finn Harps 1 Cork City Foras Co-Op 0

City went close early on when Davin O’Neill had a shot saved by Gavin Cullen in the Harps goal, but it was the home side that took the lead with a well-worked goal on 23 minutes.

Mark Forker slipped the ball past the City rearguard for James Doherty to run onto inside the box and cross for Kevin McHugh who picked his spot and buried the ball in the bottom corner.

Monaghan United 0 Limerick FC 0

by Peter Hughes

A SCORELESS draw dented the promotion hopes of both Monaghan United and Limerick FC in this poor encounter at Gortakeegan.

Limerick had the better of a drab first half, with Jeffrey Judge testing Gabriel Sava with a well- hit shot on the run. The Monaghan ‘keeper then did well to hold on to Stephen O’Flynn’s free-kick.

United displayed more attacking urgency in the second-half, but Sean Brennan missed an open goal opportunity in the 68th minute.

Wexford Youths 1 Athlone Town 3

by Brendan Furlong

ATHLONE TOWN took a all three points with a comfortable victory over a disappointing Wexford Youths side in this Division 1 game at Ferrycarrig Park last night.

Austin Skelly opened the scoring for Athlone, before Wexford Youths levelled through a Shane Dempsey penalty on the stroke of half-time.

Skelly took advantage of a mix-up in the home defence to stab the ball past a stranded Holden, giving his side a 2-1 lead seven minutes later. Athlone secured the points with a well executed 80th minute goal from O’Reilly.

Shelbourne 3 Mervue Utd 0

by Stephen Finn

SHELBOURNE maintained their bid for a play-off spot with an easy win over Mervue United at Tolka Park.

Marc Hughes opened the scoring in the 33rd minute when he fired home from close range.

Mark Leech produced a spectacular strike from just outside the box to make it 2-0 before Ian Ryan put Shelbourne 3-0 up.

Longford Town 0 Waterford Utd 2

by Pierce O’Neill

A BRACE from Willie John Kiely helped Waterford to pick up their first win of the season at Flancare Park and in doing so moved to within two points of second placed Monaghan Utd.