Intertoto Cup/NEC Nijmegen 0 Cork City 0: Cork City will fancy their chances of progressing to the next round of the Intertoto Cup after managing a scoreless draw away to Dutch first division side NEC Nijmegen at the De Gosfert Stadium in Holland on Saturday evening.
Cork, who put out Swedish side SC Malmo in the previous round thanks to a 4-1 aggregate win, can now be reasonably confident of reaching the third round.
The second leg of this tie is fixed for Turner's Cross on Sunday (3.30 p.m.) and any win will take Pat Dolan's side through to a meeting with French club Nantes.
Cork, who were without top scorer John O'Flynn, who was forced to withdraw because of a muscle strain just an hour before kick-off, were denied an all-important away goal when his replacement, Billy Woods, hit the crossbar with a 20th-minute header from George O'Callaghan's corner.
The Dutch side, who are managed by Johan Neeskens, one of the legendary Dutch footballers of the 1970s, were also denied a goal by the woodwork when Rob Wielaert also hit the bar after a scramble in the Cork goalmouth with 13 minutes remaining in the game.
Cork goalkeeper Michael Devine proved to be the real hero for the Leeside club when he produced a wonderful, one-handed save six minutes from time to deny substitute Romano Denneboom what seemed to be certain goal.
NEC Nijmegen: Gentenaar; Wisgerhos (Denneboom, 55 mins), Wielaert, Ebinge, Valencia; Tininho, Van der Doelen, Boutahar, Simr, Heije, Demogue.
Cork City: Devine,; Lordan, Bennett, D Murray, Murphy; Woods (Gamble, 85 mins), O'Brien, O'Callaghan, Kearney; Doyle, Fenn.
Referee: D Ledentu (France).
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