Cork City made it 3 wins in a row as Seani Maguire’s first-half header sealed a 1-0 win over Bray Wanderers at Munster FA Turner’s Cross.
Cork City 1
Bray Wanderers 0
Cork City named an unchanged XI from their 4-1 win away to Wexford, with Cillian Murphy retaining his spot in the team.
Bray Wanderers made 3 changes, Jamie Duggan, Richard Ferizaj dropped to the bench, while Ifunanyachi Achara was not involved in the Bray squad. The following players were replaced by Alain Kizenga, Shelbourne loanee Daniel Ring and Kyle Tucker.
The Leesiders opted to go direct in the opening few minutes, with City’s centre-halves trying to find Seani Maguire. Along with this the home side had a firm grasp on the game, getting shots off regularly.
Cork City opened the scoring in the 15th minute, after Josh Fitzpatrick beat his man down the line and got his cross into the box, where unmarked Seani Maguire headed home to make it 1-0 to the Leesiders.
City’s play slowed after the goal hit the back of the net, opting to keep control of the game.
Bray asked very little questions of Cork City’s defence, and when they did, City gave them an answer fairly quickly.
City shortly after, had a double chance from close range, but both shots were blocked successfully.
The link up of Josh Fitzpatrick and Seani Maguire looked to have scored again in the 24th minute, until the assistant referee raised his flag to disallow Maguire’s goal.
Maguire often dropped deep, almost like a quarterback to link up play from back-to-front.
Young 16 year-old Cillian Murphy had no fear of expressing himself, showing his skill throughout the first half, even throwing in a few cheeky nutmegs on Alain Kizenga and Kyle Tucker to the City faithful’s delight.
It was a while until the next chance of the game which came in the 37th minute, when Hans Mpongo’s through ball was poorly cleared by Ryan Kelly, which allowed Maguire to have a possible open goal from an angle, Seani waited and ultimately put his shot wide with his left.
The Leesiders opened the second half, with Cillian Murphy’s free kick finding Charlie Lyons at the back post, who headed his shot over the bar.
Shortly after, in the 53rd minute, Cillian Murphy slipped in Ruairí Keating, the striker however could only direct his left-footed shot at Corcoran.
City’s dominance and control was still evident, with City coming close and being incredibly dangerous from set plays.
Harry Nevin was substituted on, with City changing to a 4-2-3-1 with Maguire going deeper and Murphy moving to the right.
This change immediately created a chance with Hans Mpongo forcing Jimmy Corcoran into full stretch to prevent his shot 66 minutes in.
A minute later, Billy O’Neill had a great opportunity to put the sides level, but the 17 year-old hit the ball straight at the City No.1.
Cillian Murphy was clearly rattling The Seagulls’ feathers, with Bray stepping up their aggression when it came to tackling the young midfielder.
Wanderers looked to be gaining a bit of momentum after Ben McCormack’s effort was blocked and got a corner in the process in the 75th minute.
McCormack had another chance minutes later from a cutback, which he looped over the bar.
The sting was taken out of the game, with both sides not creating many chances of quality.
Hans Mpongo had a chance on the right-hand side late on, but yet another shot was fired at the Bray shot stopper.
Mpongo had another chance, with 2 minutes to go after being played through by Maguire, and again hitting it at Corcoran.
The game finished 1-0, but it did not reflect the game, as Bray Wanderers were off it on the night. City will be happy with the win, but for another home game in a row, the finishing was not up to scratch.
Man of the Match: Young 16 year-old Cillian Murphy again did not seem out of place. The midfielder showcased incredible work rate, fantastic flair, exceptional close control and ability to draw fouls from opposing players, making them quite frustrated in the process. It was hard to look past him.
Cork City (3-4-1-2): Conor Brann, Rory Feely, Fiacre Kelleher, Charlie Lyons(Y)(Conor Drinan 79′), Josh Fitzpatrick(A)(Harry Nevin 65′), Greg Bolger(Y), Darragh Crowley, Hans Mpongo, Cillian Murphy, Seani Maguire(G), Ruairí Keating(Y)(Matthew Kiernan 87′).
Bray Wanderers(4-2-3-1): James Corcoran, Alain Kizenga(Jamie Duggan 61′), Declan Osagie, Mark Chidi, Ryan Kelly(Y)(Dean O’Shea 61′), Cian Doyle(Y), Kyle Tucker(Richard Ferizaj 61′(Y)), Billy O’Neill, Sean Brennan(Y)(Ben McCormack 73′), Tyreik Sammy, Daniel Ring(Aime Azende Nyembo 73′).
Referee: Oliver Moran (Dublin)
Attendance: tbc