Caulfield hails Cork composure

SSE AIRTRICITY PREMIER DIVISION:

And having voiced his disgust at the quality of the Brandywell pitch beforehand, new Cork City boss John Caulfield was particularly delighted at not conceding after taking the lead in the second half.

“I thought it was a smashing performance despite a poor pitch and the very windy conditions,” declared Caulfield.

“It was also very important that we didn’t concede a goal, after what happened against Pat’s last weekend, but we battled well and deserved our win.

“I was shocked at the quality of the pitch, I’ve never seen the Brandywell pitch as bad as that and that suggested that one goal was always going to decide this match and, obviously, I was thrilled that we scored it.

“With just one of our four striker fit, makes this win all the more impressive and while Mark O’Sullivan ran himself into the ground,I think we more or less controlled the second half.”

Standing tall at the back with both Darren Dennehy and Dan Murray in total control, Derry’s strikeforce caused Mark McNulty very little problems, other than a Rory Patterson strike during the opening period.

Indeed, it was Cork who went closest to scoring during that period when Darren Dennehy’s header was cleared off the line by Derry’s Barry Molloy following a corner-kick in the 26th minute.

The breakthrough didn’t arrive until eight minutes after the break and, predictably, it was fashioned by a set-piece situation.

Cork won a free-kick 25 yards from the Derry goal and the Dennehy brothers combined to dampen Roddy Collins’ first home match on Foyleside.

Billy Dennehy floated the ball towards the back post and his younger sibling, Darren, rose above his marker to head the ball back across the body of keeper Ger Doherty and into the bottom corner.

The home side huffed and puffed afterwards but with Colin Healy protecting his back four, Derry never managed to penetrate and, indeed, McNulty never had a save to make throughout the second half.

For Roddy Collins it was disappointing, but much too early in the season to panic.

“My major disappointment is that we conceded a goal from a set piece because we had discussed that during our preparations. Cork are a big strong side and particularly dangerous on that front,” he said.

“We must take this on the chin and move on, It’s disappointment, but there’s a long, long way to go in this league.”

DERRY CITY (4-2-3-1): Doherty; Collins, Byrne, McBride (Jarvis, 46), Barry; Molloy, Ventre; P. McEleney (Duffy, 59), Stewart (S. McEleney, 75), Patterson; Curran.

CORK CITY (4-2-3-1): McNulty; Lenihan, Murran, D Dennehy, Kearney (Kavanagh, 57); Healy, Murphy; Morrissey, Buckley, B Dennehy (O’Leary, 86); O’Sullivan.

Referee: N Doyle (Dublin).