Cracks appear in Cork's defence

National League Premier Division/St patrick's Athletic 2 - Cork City 0: Their title defence may still be in its infancy but there were clear signs of teething trouble for Damien Richardson's side last night at Richmond Park.

St Patrick's exposed cracks in the normally solid Cork City back four and capitalised on the visitors' inability to field key players up front and ultimately won the game thanks to a single goal in each half.

They were helped on the their way to victory by a first half Dan Murray own goal but when Trevor Molloy doubled the lead early in the second half they were scarcely flattered by the margin which they defended stoutly to the end of a lively and open contest.

Already without George O'Callaghan and John O'Flynn, City were forced into a further change during the build up to the game when it was decided that Denis Behan was fit only for the bench due to a back problem. Vinny Sullivan replaced the 22- year-old up front while Admir Softic gained a first league start for O'Callaghan in midfield but neither fared especially well during the first hour, the former struggling to make an impact from the left side of a three-man attack while the latter showed good acceleration and control going forward only to repeatedly fluff his final ball.

Still, with his side two down the Bosnian nearly got Cork back into the game on the hour when his close range header was stopped short of the target by the raised arm of a defender. Somehow, amid the confusion the referee apparently saw nothing and the locals scrambled the ball away from the danger zone.

Alongside Softic, Neale Fenn generated an intermittent threat and Roy O'Donovan occasionally caused John Frost problems with his movement and pace but for the most part the home side's defence looked comfortable with Barry Ryan obliged to make no more than a few awkward catches from set pieces until late on when City desperately sought to salvage something from a bad night.

City's back four, by contrast, were having a rough time of it with the tireless work of Molloy and Paul Keegan, whether breaking from deep positions or mixing it up close around the area, proving more than a handful.

Cork had only conceded four goals in 14 games this season before last night and never two on the same outing but they were rather fortunate not to have let in at least one more this time with Neil Horgan going close to finding his own net after 26 minutes when he wildly sliced a dangerous looking ball from fellow full back Danny Murphy.

Horgan's blushes may have been spared but to the crowd's delight Dan Murray's weren't 12 minutes later when he stepped in front of Michael Devine to turn a Frost cross home with a header that, had it been at the other end, would have looked a handy finish.

Six minutes after the break the hosts doubled their lead, Molloy this time doing it all himself with the former under-21 international beating Horgan down the right before cutting sharply back inside Alan Bennett and then beating Devine low to his near post. All three City players deserved a portion of the blame although the goalkeeper did at least partially redeem himself shortly afterwards by producing a cracking save when Michael Foley's 15-yard drive looked bound for the back of the net.

With the win all but assured, Molloy left the field to a deserved ovation shortly before the end. A dismal night for the City fans, meanwhile, was compounded by the open acrimony that broke out late on amongst some of the City players with Murphy, in particular, becoming embroiled in a running dispute with Behan and Billy Woods.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Ryan; S Quigley, Brennan, Maguire, Frost; Murphy, Mulcahy, Foley, O'Connor (M Quigley, 68 mins); Molloy (Roach, 87 mins), Keegan.

CORK CITY: Devine; Horgan, Bennett, Murray, Murphy; Softic, O'Brien, Gamble; O'Donovan, Fenn (Behan, 75 mins), Sullivan (Woods, 58 mins).

Referee: I Stokes (Dublin).