It was the Blues who walked away with the bragging rights of the Munster Derby as a late winners secured 3 points for the Blue Army
First Half Shambles
Cork were off the mark straight away as Alex Nolan began his goalscoring portfolio for the Rebels, sending Kyle White the wrong way and rocketing his shot off the top netting, giving McMullan no chance of stopping the shot. An outside of the boot shot from McMenamy just rattled the crossbar brought the game close to a 1-1 draw. From then on out it was slow moving for the blues, Sean Maguire seemed to be having an absolute stormer of a match before he met the end of his night after sustaining an injury. Cork retained pressure but a glimmer of hope shone through late on in the first half as the momentum began to build for the blues, but nothing came from it as McGrath blew the half time whistle, with cork leading by a goal to nil at the break.
Second Half Sensation
A chance of pace was instantaneously noticed as Podge Amond received a low played ball from Rowan McDonald in which he made no mistake in flicking on into the far right corner past Troost to level the game and reset the pace, leaving Block E in raptures. Bakboord came close to opening his goalscoring portfolio as a side volley was deflected away by Sean Murray to put it away for a corner. in the 62nd minute, Anderson received his marching orders for a second yellow card offence on Tommy Lonergan, to the happiness of the Blues fans. The free was knocked on by the wall forcing Troost to have to make a fingertip save. Fullback Radkowski almost made it 2 for 2 as his pelter of a shot going directly for the top left corner is knocked out by the City shotstopper. The 85th minute made all the difference tonight as Podge Amonds cross which landed on Lonergans head was kept out by Troost was calmly slotted away by Kyle White who has been a great addition in the last 2 matches, firing us ahead late on. 4 minutes additional time just wasn’t enough for the Rebels as the full time whistle was blown, securing all 3 points remain suirside.
Post Match Flairs
City Manager Tim Clancy received his suspension after a fiery debate with referee McGrath. In his post match interview, Clancy stated that he commented on his officiating as “Shocking” and in response, McGrath said to him that “Well I thought your team were shocking”, Which the City gaffer branded as a “disgrace”. For this offence, Tim received a yellow card. Clancy then said to him “Thats your ego getting the better of you”, in which Mr McGrath showed him a second yellow. All in all, from a league standpoint, it’s a farce that was said, something that you wouldn’t even hear at schoolboy level.
My Overall Opinion
Although the first half seemed extremely poor, The second half clawback showed extreme determination and perseverance from the squad. Personally, my Man Of The Match goes to Rowan McDonald, with Conan Noonan at a close second. Both men were great for the full 90, but McDonald just nips the award for me. Thats all from me! Roll on Bohemians
Chat to ye soon
Conor (mon blues)