Teenager Murphy the hero as Cork City continue blistering start
Cillian Murphy scored a 53rd minute winner for Cork City against UCD. Pic:Â Gareth Chaney
Cork City earned a massive three points at the UCD Bowl in an enthralling end-to-end encounter with 16-year-old Cillian Murphy being the hero as his first senior goal proved the difference.
Making their first trip to the capital of the 2026 campaign, the Rebel Army continued their blistering start to the season making it five wins and a draw upon their unwanted return to the First Division but with two wins from two at The Bowl prior to kick-off so far, the Students, who will have eyes on one of the valuable play-off spots come the end of the season, proved a very tough nut to crack for the high-flying title favourites.
And back at the scene of when they last secured the First Division title the visitors, as expected, made a dominant start. Hans Mpongo showed tremendous trickery down the left trying to feed the dynamic duo of Maguire and Keating with some clever low crosses, with both having chances from narrow angles after razor sharp movement.
But having held off the initial wave the hosts who, as usual, saw their side picked apart in the offseason losing the likes of Ronan Finn and breakout star in the Premier Division Adam Brennan - who deservedly earned a called up to the Irish Under-21’s on Thursday - just continued doing what they do and played their way into the game.
Looked dangerous on the counter attack the Students' own flying winger, Stephen Mohan, created havoc himself and forced some bodies-on-the-line defending as the frenetic start showed no signs of slowing.
Both teams sensed an opening wasn’t far away and midway through the first half Louis Dignam’s 25-yard thunderbolt was brilliantly held by Connor Brann before the league's top scorer Maguire, looked to add to his five goals so far but narrowly missed the bottom corner with a flicked near-post header.
On the stroke of half-time the fleet-footed Mohan cut in from the left and dribbled across the edge of the area but after evading a couple of challenges, dragged his low shot back across goal past the post as their long search for their first goal against City in their last five attempts rolled on.
Similar to the first half, the visitors came flying out of the traps giving the hosts no room to breathe. And having earned a spate of corners, one of which saw Darragh Crowley clip the outside of the post with a looping effort, the breakthrough finally came just eight minutes after the restart. Joshua Fitzpatrick drilled in a low cross from the right that wasn’t dealt with by the UCD defence, with a tame clearance falling invitingly to the feet of Murphy. The talented teenager made no mistake and swept the ball home expertly to become one of the youngest goalscorers in Cork City’s history. The hosts really should have hit back straight away but again Mohan’s finishing just let him down at the crucial moment. Having picked up the ball at the back post, the lively winger shot straight at Brann from point blank range as the gilt-edged chance slipped away.
The one way traffic quickly continued with the table-toppers looking to kill the game off. Dara Kavanagh was forced into a number of top class saves as the Leesiders spurned some glorious opportunities.
The longer the second half continued with just the one goal deficit, the potential for a nervy finish grew. But despite Willy O’Connor unleashing all his attacking threat at his disposal, the well marshalled City defence showed no signs of creaking as they stood firm to take all three points back down to CorkÂ
Kavanagh; Murphy (Morley, 76’), Holohan, Lennox (Akimrintoyo, 90+6'), Cailloce; Dignam, Wells; Mohan (Ogbonna, 65’), Cailloce (McCullagh, 65’), Behan; Smith (Raggett, 75’)Â
 Brann; Feely, Kelleher, Lyons: Mpongo (Drinan, 59’), Crowley, Bolger, Murphy (AJ Bridge, 83’), Fitzpatrick (Nevin, 75’); Keating (Murray, 75’), MaguireÂ
Lucas Keating
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