Good evening and welcome to Turner’s Cross for the second leg of the Europa League second round qualifier between Cork City and BK Hacken of Sweden. Stick with us here and we’ll keep you updated throughout the evening. Kick-off is at 7.45pm and Cork City are in the driving seat thanks to Sean Maguire’s away goal in last week’s 1-1 first leg draw in Gothenburg.
The Cross is starting to fill up. They’re expecting a sell-out despite the wet weather.
The good news for Cork City is that captain Greg Bolger has been passed fit so they’re unchanged from the first leg.
This is Cork City’s 50th European game and defender Alan Bennett will have played in 24 of them — a new club record (Mick Devine and Colin O’Brien both had 23).
We spoke to Bennett this week ahead of the game:
“Big European nights, this should be the norm for Cork City. Teams walking into Turner’s Cross, the fans getting in their heads while they’re taking a corner, the Shed rocking… these are the kind of nights I’ve wanted to be involved in since watching Davey Barry scoring against Bayern Munich when I was a kid. I wanted to be involved in those kind of occasions myself and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to do it. I’m grateful for that. But I want more.”
Despite having to settle for a 1-1 draw at home last week, Hacken are very confident of progressing.
Speaking to the club’s official YouTube channel after a training session at Turner’s Cross yesterday, midfielder Mohammed Abubakari said: “We want to play our game. We just want to win the battles, especially in the middle, and try to play the way we want to play. I think we will do that and we will definitely win the game.”
City, who eliminated Linfield in the previous round, have already earned €410,00 in prize money from their Europa League campaign but they can increase that to €630,000 by progressing tonight.
Here’s how the teams are set up…
Cork City: Mark McNulty; Michael McSweeney, Alan Bennett, Kenny Browne, Kevin O’Connor; Greg Bolger (c); Stephen Dooley, Garry Buckley, Gearoid Morrissey, Steven Beattie; Sean Maguire.
BK Hacken: Peter Abrahamsson; Joel Andersson, Emil Wahlstrom, Jasmin Sudic, Kari Arkivio; Mohammed Abubakari; Nasiru Mohammed, Rasmus Schuller (c), Paulo De Oliveira; Samuel Gustafson; John Owoeri.
Lively opening to this one in greasy conditions on Leeside but no major chances of note just yet, although Hacken are seeing more of the ball.
John Owoeri with a chance for Hacken but his close-range shot from a narrow angle is saved by Mark McNulty.
Great chance for Nasiru Mohammed but he shoots straight at McNulty. Major let-off for City.
GOAL! Cork City 1 BK Hacken 0 (Kevin O’Connor, 25)
City take the lead against the run of play! O’Connor won a free-kick down the left near the corner flag. Greg Bolger sent in the delivery and O’Connor volleyed home with the help of a deflection through a sea of Hacken bodies. The hosts lead 2-1 on aggregate.
Header from a corner from Paulo De Oliveira cleared off the line by Stephen Dooley.
Long break in play here as Nasiru Mohammed receives treatment following a tackle from Garry Buckley. He’ll be stretchered off to be replaced by Demba Savage.
Bennett gets a head on Dooley’s corner and City are appealing for a hand ball but the ref is having none of it.
Half-time: Cork City 1 BK Hacken 0 (Cork City lead 2-1 on aggregate)
So far so good for Cork City thanks to Kevin O’Connor…
All Hacken so far in this second period but City are coping well with the pressure.
City living dangerously here but Hacken are beginning to get frustrated as their superiority in the possession stakes hasn’t manifested itself in the form of a goal just yet.
Morrissey claiming a hand-ball by a Hacken defender from O’Connor’s free-kick but City have to settle for a corner, which comes to nothing.
Steven Beattie taken down on the edge of the box. Free-kick in a great area for City but they tried to be too elaborate, giving Hacken time to close them down and O’Connor’s shot ends up going out over The Shed.
Ericsson, the substitute, shoots from just outside the box but slips as he does and the ball trickles harmlessly into the hands of McNulty.
Brilliant play by Dooley sets up Morrissey and his shot is wonderfully saved by Abrahamsson.
Great chance for Hacken but Savage’s shot is timid and McNulty saves comfortably.
Serious atmosphere at Turner’s Cross. City are 15 minutes away from a third-round meeting with Genk (Belgium) or Buducnost Podgorica (Montenegro). The latter lead 2-0 at home on the night so that tie is currently poised for extra-time as Genk won the first leg by the same scoreline.
Two minutes of normal time remaining. Hacken pressing but not creating anything of note.
Corner for Hacken in the fourth minute of added time. Even the goalkeeper is up as they search for the leveller.
Full-time: Cork City 1 BK Hacken 0 (Cork City progress to the third qualifying round of the Europa League)
What a big result for Cork City! They’ve eliminated the Swedish Cup holders and will now progress to the third qualifying round of the Europa League — increasing their prize money to €630,000 in the process — where they’ll face either Genk (Belgium) or Buducnost Podgorica (Montenegro), whose tie has ended up in extra-time following a 2-2 aggregate draw.
Best of luck cork and pats,hopefully another memorable night ahead
Great that there are live updates of the two games tonight. Come on Pat’s and Cork.
I thought we had 3 national TV stations.I thought Dundalk St Pats and Cork were all from Ireland.And the big thought was that I thought Irish TV covered Irish teams. Seems Im wrong about that.What a joke
Spot on.
Ridiculous that the state broadcaster wouldn’t broadcast one of the games tonight.
A packed Turners Cross on a big European night. I can’t think of a better advertisement for the league.
I’m not even a Cork fan!
Ditto John, brilliant atmosphere there for league games so I can imagine what it’s like there tonight and them nearly through to the next third qualifying round of the Europa League.
LOI fans should get a reduced TV licence seeing as the benefactors do not cover LOI
Dundalk showed you how, come on Cork and Pats!
Best of luck to the rebels tonight
Great week for Irish soccer
Well done to Dundalk last night and let’s hope city and pats do the league proud tonight
Keep it up city (dundalk fan)
Great to see LOI fans supporting each other
Keep up the support lads and get down and support your team
Would love to be in the shed tonight – over 5k in turners cross tonight – fantastic
C’mon city do us proud!!!
Not to jinx it or anything, but Podgorica have leveled their tie with Genk. That’d be a very winnable tie. But let’s see of Hacken first.
Alright, let’s go Podgorica!!!!
That sure is. Can you imagine Genk going out? Definitely all to play for.
This is now a Podgorica-Genk live blog. 2-0 FT. They’ve gone into extra time.
HT Extra time, still remains 2-2
Still 2-0 after ET. It’s gone to penalties.
It’s Genk. Shame they are a handy team. Won 4 2 on penalties
Cmon city
Well done Cork, great win.
The updates are shocking! Minute by minute? Lol
Sorry they weren’t up to your standards, Darren. Unfortunately we were restricted by the quality of internet connection at Turner’s Cross, but rest assured that every significant incident was covered. Hopefully you managed to stay up to date via the many other media outlets who provided a similar level of coverage of the game.
Well done city! Awesome result
Well done City.
G’wan City, great result. Hopefully Genk get knocked out
Fantastic result for city
Hard luck pats
Best of luck to city and Dundalk in next rounds
Well done Cork, tough luck Pats, flying the domestic flag proudly-Sligo Rovers.
Well done Cork City