Cork City 0
Galway United 1
Dylan O’Connell reports from Turner’s Cross
Galway United opened their First Division campaign with a 1-0 victory over Cork City in front of 4,984 people at Turner’s Cross.
The result, which is Galway’s first league win in Cork since 1993, was decided through Ed McCarthy’s close range finish just before the half-time break.
Galway tore up the pitch and won a free-kick inside 30 seconds, which Conor McCormack dropped into the box. It landed at the feet of McCarthy and the former Regional United midfielder mis-controlled the ball, allowing City to win possession for the first time in the game.
The Tribesmen built on the momentum from this start and a spinning strike from Diego Portilla nearly poked them into the lead with eight minutes played, but David Harrington caught it.
A low ball across the box from Cian Murphy created City’s first chance of the game. It beat everyone and rolled to Dylan McGlade, who had his shot blocked by Conor O’Keeffe.
When City got back into the Galway box, O’Keeffe was again there to interrupt their play.
This time the defender knocked away an in-swinging ball put in by Cian Bargary.
With six minutes remaining in the first half, McCarthy got on the end of a low cross from Wilson Waweru and he fired into the roof of the goal, making it 1-0 to Galway.
From the restart, City had two chances in quick succession. The first, a header from Ruairi Keating, was flicked away by Conor Kearns. A corner was given and the ball was turned in before getting scrambled off the line.
A long throw at the start of the second half found Wilson at the far post and he would have made it 2-0 if not for a block by Cian Coleman. This was the forward’s last involvement of the game, as he received a second yellow card moments later after fouling James Doona.
The extra man gave Aaron Bolger space to run riot in the centre of the pitch. One pass following the dismissal found Bargary inside the area. He dribbled through a converging Marooon wall and his shot hit the side netting.
City dominated the game following this and an excellent chance was created by Keating after he played Bargary through on goal. Kearns charged forward to sweep the ball from danger and the Galway goalkeeper then swatted away an attempt rebound from Bargary.
Kevin O’Connor was the next City player to try his luck and his attempt from an in-swinging free-kick was calmly scooped up by Kearns.
Matt Srbely thought he made the break through with five minutes remaining but his dashing run into the box ended with the ball rolling wide.
Tonight’s other First Division action saw Dinny Corcoran score an 89th minute winner as Wexford snatched a dramatic 3-2 win at Cobh Ramblers, while Louis Britton’s first-half goal was enough to see Waterford past Bray Wanderers at the RSC.
Cork City: David Harrington; Cian Coleman, Dylan McGlade (James Doona 23), Aaron Bolger (Matt Healy 75), Ruairi Keating, Barry Coffey, Cian Bargary, Kevin O’Connor, Cian Murphy, Jonas Hakkinen (Matt Srbely 64).
Galway United: Conor Kearns; Conor O’Keeffe, Killian Brouder, Diego Portilla, Mikie Rowe (Gary Boylan 65), Manu Dimas (Jordan Adeyemo 65), David Hurley (Charlie Lyons 90), Wilson Waweru, Conor McCormack, Ed McCarthy, Alex Murphy.
Referee: Eoghan O’Shea.
Gavan Casey is joined by Bernard Jackman and Murray Kinsella to look ahead to Italy, chat about the provinces’ latest signings, and remember ‘Inga the Winga’.
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