No Progres as City press self-destruct button

The dream beforehand had been of a box-office clash with Rangers but the reality, on an evening when Cork City repeatedly pressed the self-destruct button, was something more like a nightmare as, after a first half in which the home side conceded two goals and also missed a penalty, the resultant 0-2 defeat gives Progres Niederkorn what looks like full control of this Europa League First Qualifying Round tie ahead of next week’s second leg in Luxembourg.

For City, deployed once again in a 3-5-2 formation, there had been a starting place for new signing Joel Coustrain while the re-signed Mark O’Sullivan had to settle for a place on the bench at kick off, along with Alan Bennett and Daire O’Connor among others. It wouldn’t be long, however, before dire circumstances for the home side dictated that striker O’Sullivan would enter the fray.