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Cork City 0 St. Patrick's Athletic 1
Thursday, 12 March 2009 21:35
St. Patrick’s Athletic made light of Cork City’s disappointing challenge at Turner’s Cross where they put the memory of last week’s heavy defeat by Galway United behind them with a disciplined and determined performance to take all three League of Ireland points.

How ironic that St. Pat’s first half goal should have been hammered into the Cork City net by one of their last season’s regulars. Darragh Ryan scored just one goal in two seasons at Cork where he played most of his football at full-back.

Cork used him as a left-sided midfield player during the closing weeks of last season and it was from this position that he proved to be a torment to Cork last night.

His goal came in the tenth minute of the match and it is certain there will not be many better goals scored this season.

St. Pat’s forced two corners in quick succession and when Ryan ran across the edge of the penalty area to meet the second, Cawley’s delivery was perfect. Ryan hit the ball on the volley with his left foot and it fairly flew low into the net.

St. Pat’s went close to stretching their lead when Kyle Moran struck a shot from 40 yards that goalkeeper Dan Connor turned away with difficulty after 21 minutes as Cork took a long time to settle.

St. Pat’s were playing confidently by then and their sturdy defence gave Cork few openings. Billy Dennehy on the left wing was the only Cork player to show some penetration.

St. Pat’s were again close to a second goal immediately after the start of the second half when goalkeeper Dan Connor had to race to the edge of his penalty area to knock a ball out of the path of Kyle Moran.

The goalkeeper was struggling to regain his feet as Gints Freimanis hurriedly shot past him and wide of the upright.

Cork should have had an equaliser as they built up the pressure on the St. Pat’s defence in the second half. Dennehy’s cross in the 49^th minute was flicked on by Kuduzovic and with goalkeeper Gary Rogers struggling to get across goal, Pat Sullivan mis-hit his attempted volley into the ground when he was no more than six yards from goal.

Kuduzovic drove clear on to Silagalis’s chested pass in the 54^th minute but lifted his shot over from 18 yards and as St. Pat’s absorbed Cork’s pressure, so the home team ran out of attacking ideas.

St. Pat’s concentrated on protecting their lead and they succeeded so effectively that goalkeeper Gary Rogers was never stretched as Cork fans in an attendance of 3,410 pondered a disappointing start to the new season.

Teams:

Cork City: Connor; Horgan, Mezeckis, Murray, Murphy; Sullivan, Healy, Gamble, Dennehy; Kuduzovic (Behan 73), Silagailis.

St. Patrick’s Athletic: Rogers; Gavin, Harris, Partridge, Stevens; Freimanis (O’Connor 65), Lynch, Cawley, Ryan; Leech (Lester 82), Moran (Haran 89).

Referee: Mr. D. Tomney (Dublin).
 
 
 
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