O'Brien-Whitmarsh hits crucial late equaliser for City

FULL BLOODED: Cork City's Jimmy Corcoran is tackled by Adam Foley of Drogheda. Pic: INPHO/Bryan Keane

SSE Airtricity Premier Division

Cork City 1 Drogheda United 1

A week on from finishing his Leaving Cert exams, Joe O’Brien-Whitmarsh scored a crucial equaliser to earn Cork City a valuable point in their bid to avoid relegation from the Premier Division.

Drogheda United, one of their main rivals to beat the drop, looked to have deservedly secured a huge three points thanks to Adam Foley’s fine finish in the second half but O’Brien-Whitmarsh showed composure beyond his years late on to earn City a 1-1 draw at Turner’s Cross on Friday night.

Republic of Ireland U21 international Tiernan Brooks watched on from the stands as he closes in on a move to the Leesiders. The City jacket he had on would suggest that his transfer – believed to be a loan deal - is all but done with an official announcement pending.

City fans and players alike will be hoping one of his strengths is his distribution given the number of occasions Jimmy Corcoran failed to start a quick counter-attack, which drew groans from the crowd and anger from his teammates.

But Corcoran certainly wasn’t to blame for the dire nature of the first half. Drogheda were the better team on the ball with Darragh Markey and captain Gary Deegan helping the visitors to dominate the midfield.

But for all their quality in possession, they failed to muster an attempt on target with Dayle Rooney’s cross that flashed across the face of goal and a couple of ambitious strikes from long-range that sailed harmlessly over the target, and even the stand on one occasion, as close as they came to scoring.

Despite being urged to attack by the majority of the 3,851 in attendance, the Rebel Army struggled to get a foothold in the game, but they did create the best openings of the first 45.

Either side of Tunde Owolabi’s pullback causing problems and Cian Coleman tamely nodding a corner well wide of the back post, Ruairí Keating just failed to connect with Gordon Walker’s dangerous cross at the front post before Tunde bundled the rebound at the keeper.

The recently appointed (officially at least) City management team led by Sporting Director Liam Buckley undoubtedly had strong words for their side during the half-time break.

It seemed to have little impact as United almost fashioned the opener but Markey’s through ball was just overhit, allowing Corcoran to gather at the feet of Foley.

Buckley and co had seen enough and they made three substitutions just before the hour mark. Similar to the team talk, it seemed to have little impact and in the 69th minute, Drogheda finally took the lead.

Ryan Brennan turned cleverly before rolling a superb pass in behind the City defence and into the path of Foley, who coolly slotted the ball into the bottom left corner of the Shed End net.

City upped the temp in the closing stages, and they got their reward in the 82nd minute when O’Brien-Whitmarsh controlled John O’Donovan’s cross and expertly drilled it into the far bottom right corner to earn the hosts a point, although the visitors twice went close to snatching a winner in injury time.

CORK CITY: Corcoran; Custovic, Gilchrist, Coleman; Walker, Healy (Coffey 59), Bolger, O’Brien Whitmarsh, O’Donovan; Owolabi (Murphy 59), Keating.

DROGHEDA UNITED: Wogan; Ahui, Adegboyega, Keeley, Weir; Deegan, Noone (Topcu 69); Foley (McNally 77), Markey, Rooney; Brennan.

Referee: Damien MacGraith.