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Four goal Cork heap pressure on Derry boss Fenlon

Monday 9th April 2007, 10:05 pm

Admir Softic, Cork City.

Photo by Tom Carey.

Cork City stunned Derry City and the Brandywell faithful tonight to record a stunning 4-1 win in the Premier Division of the eircom League of Ireland. The win moves Cork up to third while Derry are struggling in seventh place.

Ola Tidman made his debut in the Derry goal replacing Pat Jennings and for the most part it was a first game to forget.

Roy O'Donovan opened the scoring on 12 minutes after a quick Cork counter attack. Joe Gamble started the move in his own half, quickly feeding John O'Flynn. The Cork striker's low shot was only pushed back out by Tidman and O'Donovan slid the ball home despite the attentions of the keeper and Peter Hutton.

O'Donovan had come close just minutes earlier but Admir Softic's cross had taken a wicked bounce in front of him on the turf, angling the ball away from goal.

Hutton levelled matters just three minutes after Cork's lead goal when he got in after some more less than perfect goalkeeping. Ken Oman flicked on Ruaidhri Higgins' cross from the left and Hutton slid in to flick the ball past Michael Devine. The Cork keeper picked up a knock to the ankle and struggled with it for the remainder of the game.

O'Donovan came close to restoring Cork's lead before the twentieth minute but his overhead flick from Darragh Ryan's free kick struck Tidman's bar. At the other end Pat McCourt hit an air shot with the goal and the injured Devine all that faced him. It was to be the tricky winger's only involvement of note as he limped off just moments later to be replaced by Alan Moore.

Moore himself was lucky to stay on the pitch after appearing to land an elbow to O'Flynn's throat. The Cork man, incensed by the move, was also slightly fortunate to escape any action after wrestling Moore to the ground.

Cork regained their lead just three minutes before the break as Softic pounced on another goalkeeping howler. Liam Kearney's cross from the left wasn't the best but Tidman could only flap at it, pushing the ball out to Softic. The tall Bosnian kept his head and slotted the ball past the keeper as well as Hutton and Oman to restore Cork's lead.

Typical of Derry's performances this season, even the usually dangerous Mark Farren seemed off key. From a trademark position on the right wing, Devine saved easily from what was in effect a tame left footed shot. The striker went close again before the hour but after out-muscling Dan Murray he failed to get away a decent shot from a tight angle.

Peter Hynes might have marked his debut with a goal but he just failed to connect with Higgins' free kick into the area while he fired off target later after doing well to dispossess Murray. It was more than slightly strange that Kevin McHugh remained on the bench until almost the closing ten minutes. Having scored three goals already this season, McHugh arrived just in time to see Cork wrap up their win.

With Derry huffing and puffing, Cork snatched the killer third goal nine minutes from the end, Murray getting in on the end of Ryan's corner kick to head in as he out-jumped Oman to guide the ball past the stranded Tidman.

Worse was to come for the home side in the final minute as Denis Behan nipped in on an awful header from Oman to lob from over the stranded Tidman from distance to wrap up an emphatic 4-1 win.

The final whistle came to a chorus of boos from the home fans and the pressure is sure to increase on Derry boss Pat Fenlon. The Candystripes have now lost five of their last six games, their last three in the League of Ireland. To put it in context, Cork only lost three times when they won the league in 2005 while both Shelbourne and Derry lost just four last term.

Derry City : Tidman, McCallion (McHugh 77), Rogers, Hutton, Oman, Higgins, Brennan, Molloy, McCourt (Moore 27), Beckett (Hynes 57), Farren.
Cork City : Devine, Horgan, Ryan, Murray, Kelly, Gamble, Cillian Lordan (O'Brien 90 +2), Softic, Kearney, O'Donovan, O'Flynn (Behan 69).