NOEL HARTIGAN struck his fourth goal in just three games to earn Cork City full points from their National League Premier Division encounter with Finn Harps at Turner's Cross yesterday.
Hartigan, who has played as a centre half for most of the season, has proven to be a revelation up front for Dave Barry in the latter stages of the season.
The 19 year old Irish international basketballer once again led the attack with Damien O'Connell, and their partnership worked a treat again.
Cork were vastly depleted from their 3-1 win over Bray Wanderers on Friday. Colin O'Brien and Derek Coughlan joined Dave Hill on the injured list and Declan Daly was out through suspension.
All credit to Barry's rearranged side, however, as they battled gamely throughout and severely limited Harps chances.
The only goal of the game came three minutes after the interval, an opportunist's goal by Hartigan.
A long hopeful ball out of defence by Kelvin Flanagan bounced kindly for the striker and even though his initial shot was blocked, he followed up to lob the stranded Darren Nash.
Finn Harps improved considerably following the opener but could not break down a solid City defence that was superbly marshalled by Philip Long.
Their best chance of an equaliser came after 15 minutes when Phil Harrington had to be alert to save from James Mulligan.
"Europe has been our target and we are on course to achieve that," said Dave Barry.
. Israel cruised to a 3-0 victory in Luxembourg yesterday to go top of their World Cup qualifying group. With Russia only managing a 1-1 draw in Cyprus on Saturday, Israel now lead Group Five with 10 points from five games. Slovakia beat Malta 2-0 away to draw level on points with Yugoslavia in Group Six. Slovakia now lie joint second in the group, four points behind leaders Spain.
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