Treaty's Alec Byrne returns to haunt Cork City

The Carrigaline native, who spent seven years with his local club, cancelled out an early Evan Laughlin goal.

Evan McLaughlin of Cork City in action against William Armshaw of Treaty United. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile

SSE Airtricity First Division: Cork City 1-1 Treaty United

Alec Byrne returned to haunt his old club Cork City by scoring a first half equaliser that snatched a point for Treaty United in a closely fought game.

The Carrigaline native, who spent seven years with his local club, cancelled out an early Evan McLaughlin goal in front of 2,523 spectators.

Up until that point, City had been cruising after they took an eighth minute lead through a penalty converted by the Derry City loanee.

Tommy Barrett’s side had a game-plan and, and that involved staying compact in a 4-4-1-1 formation.

This meant space in the final third was premium, and City found it by targeting the channels and crossing into the box.

Sean Murray was one of the first players to try and pry Treaty open, and the referee ruled that a low ball into the box from the midfielder was handled by Thomas Considine. McLaughlin took the penalty and he made it 1-0 to City by sending Corey Chambers the wrong way.

The Rebel Army didn’t relax with their slight advantage, they kept going and shots by Charlie Lyons and Murray were blocked and hit narrowly wide.

By the 23rd minute, the Treaty management team had seen enough and changes were made. Darren Nwankwo and Leon Kirrane were brought on, and they replaced Considine and Colin Conroy.

City kept going and a McLaughlin shot deflected into the path of Cian Murphy. The striker tried to score with his first touch, and he was denied by a low save from Chambers.

The next opportunity to double City’s lead fell to Murray, and the midfielder lost his footing before he could shoot.

The home fans’ frustration was exasperated when Brad Wade pushed a Kirrane shot into the path of Byrne, and the midfielder fired in the equaliser in the 41st minute.

The goalkeeper redeemed himself to the masses at the start of the second half by pushing an attempt from distance by Lee Devitt out for corner which came to nothing.

City regrouped and brought on Jack Doherty, and the winger added a new dimension into their forward line by dragging Treaty defenders out of position and creating space for Murphy to run into.

Treaty soaked up the pressure and managed to win a corner in the 82nd minute. Kirrane picked out Devitt with the set-piece and the defender narrowly missed the intended target at the St Anne’s End.

No matter what they did, Treaty had an answer and that got them a point at Turner’s Cross.

Meanwhile, Athlone Town and UCD played out a 2-2 draw at Lissywoollen while Bray won 2-1 away to Wexford. 

Cork City: Wade; Coleman, Lyons, Bolger (Skieters 87), McLaughlin, Coffey, Bargary (Doherty 65), Murphy, Crowley, Umeh (Fitzpatrick 59), Murphy.

Treaty United: Chambers; O’Riordan, Devitt, Armshaw (O’Halloran 71), Conroy (Nwankwo 23), Considine (Kirrane 23), Christopher, Byrne (Kirkland 45), O’Connor, Doherty, Byrne.

Referee: Oliver Moran