Limerick FC 2-1 Cork City
LIMERICK FC picked up three valuable points and asserted local superiority with a 2-1 victory over Munster rivals Cork City at Thomond Park on Friday night.
Second half goals from Craig Curran and Shaun Kelly secured the points, with a late reply from Danny Morrissey proving insufficient for the Leesiders, who sacked Tommy Dunne a few hours after the final whistle.
The visitors actually made the brighter start and had the first real shot in anger on 12 minutes from Shane Duggan, who took possession after Stephen Bradley was too casual on the ball near halfway.
Limerick were guilty on more than one occasion of being sloppy in possession early on, with passes falling short and the ball being coughed up cheaply, although they would tighten up after their initial carelessness.
The Super Blues came very close to taking the lead in the 16th minute when Danny Galbraith’s cross met the head of Curran, who looked primed to score until Cork goalkeeper Mark McNulty pulled off a fantastic save.
The keepers were on top in the first half and it was soon Barry Ryan’s turn to draw tumultuous applause from the home supporters. On the half-hour mark the Limerick netminder did brilliantly to turn away a rasping shot from Gearoid Morrissey.
Four minutes later there was another jaw-dropping save, this time at the other end. Dave O’Leary floated in a free kick from the middle of the park and Curran got his head to it, but McNulty again frustrated the Liverpudlian striker.
In the 35th minute Limerick thought they had gone in front when Stephen Folan’s hopeful long-distance shot took a deflection and beat McNulty, but referee Neil Doyle flagged for an apparent handball in the passage of play.
It was a decent, yet goalless, first half and the second 45 minutes would be packed with incident. Ten minutes after the interval, the opening goal arrived and it was well worth the wait.
Curran took possession of the ball near the Cork penalty area and had room to shoot. He curled an exquisite 25-yard shot over McNulty and into the top corner of the net. It was undoubtedly one of the highlights of Limerick’s season to date.
The Super Blues, and manager Stuart Taylor, had come under fire for recent lacklustre performances but that accusation could not be levelled against them here. Defensively they were much more secure, the midfield was creating no shortage of chances and the forwards looked sharp.
As the home side’s confidence grew, so did the away fans’ displeasure, with some of the Cork support chanting ‘Tommy Dunne, get out of our club’ as the manager felt the heat.
In the 69th minute a lung-bursting Kelly run allowed Joe Gamble to find Rory Gaffney in the penalty area. The striker shot low at McNulty and the ball rebounded into the path of the roving Kelly, who emphatically hammered it to the net to double the lead.
It was just reward for the right-back, who was named man of the match and worked tirelessly throughout the 90 minutes.
He was at the centre of another key moment of the game on 82 minutes, sliding in on Daryl Horgan from behind. The Cork midfielder retaliated with a push and a melee broke out. The end result was a red card for Horgan and bookings for Kelly, Robbie Williams, McNulty and Ciaran Kilduff.
A match that seemed to be drifting towards its inevitable conclusion took a late twist. In the 87th minute Danny Morrissey had time to take aim at the Limerick goal and his shot cannoned down off the crossbar and into the net.
Cork threw bodies forward in a late siege but Taylor’s men were not going to let their hard work come undone at this stage.
It was one of their most convincing displays of the season and it ensured a second victory over Cork City in 2013, having beaten the Leesiders at Turner’s Cross in May, and new signing Jason Hughes made an impressive 10-minute cameo upon his return to the club.
It also sounded the death knell for Dunne as Cork City manager, with the Dublin native given his P45 within hours of the final whistle.
Limerick FC: Ryan, Kelly, Folan, Williams, Nzuzi, Gamble, O’Leary (Hughes 80), Bradley, Galbraith, Curran, Gaffney (Sheedy 90+1).
Cork City: McNulty, N Horgan, Murray, Turner (Kenny 86), D Murphy, D Horgan, G Morrissey, Duggan, D Morrissey, Buckley, Kilduff.
Referee: Neil Doyle (Dublin)
Attendance: 1,248
