Cork unhappy after their claims for a late penalty are denied

Derry City 1 Cork City 1:CORK CITY will feel hard done by after referee Ritchie Winters failed to award what appeared a clear-cut penalty to the visitors in the 90th minute at the Brandywell.

With so many first-choice players missing from both sides, Derry’s failure to leapfrog Cork in the table will prove hugely disappointing and, indeed, hopes of a confidence boost before Thursday night’s game in Bulgaria against CSKA Sofia in the Europa League fell by the wayside.

Despite what was a poor game overall, with a strong wind the dominant factor, Cork entered the break on the wrong side of a 1-0 scoreline when captain, Dan Murray, appeared to help a Ger O’Brien cross into his own net in the 45th minute.

However, following the change of ends, Cork clearly upped their performance and they got their reward when substitute, Shane Duggan drilled the ball home from the edge of the area in the 51st minute after Neal Horgan had played him in.

In the end, it was probably a fair result but both sides certainly had their chances to win what was, overall, a poor encounter.

The home side created the first clear-cut opening when the lively Gareth McGlynn set Aaron Nash up, but the striker flashed his shot across the face of goal and wide when he should have done better.

But Cork were dangerous and in the 25th minute, Gunthars Silagailis really should have broken the deadlock.

With Eddie McCallion failing to intercept a through ball, the Latvian gained possession and found himself in a one-on-one situation but Derry goalkeeper, Ger Doherty, denied the striker from 12 metres.

In the second half, following their equaliser, Cork continued to push forward and Billy Dennehy had a low shot saved by Doherty in the 65th minute.

In the final minute, Derry’s Barry Molloy appeared to bring Dennehy crashing down to earth inside the penalty area and, while the visitors screamed for a spot-kick, the referee refused to entertain those requests before sounding the final whistle.

DERRY CITY: Doherty; McCallion, Molloy, Hutton, O’Brien; McGlynn, Higgins, Martyn (Deery, 80), Stewart; Nash (McManus, 66), Farren.

CORK CITY: Connor, Horgan, Long, Murray, Murphy; Kiely (O’Neill, 61), Lordan, O’Donnell (Duggan, 46), Dennehy; Silagailis (Cambridge, 70), Kuduzovic.

Referee: R Winters (Wicklow).