Cork City 1 Shelbourne 0: There may be disappointment in some quarters that the work of the FAI's arbiter wasn't made a good deal easier by last night's results but at Turner's Cross there was unbridled joy at a combination of scorelines that not only ensured Shelbourne would make the long journey home empty-handed last night but also kept City's own admittedly faint chances of defending their crown alive.
Roy O'Donovan did his best to corner the glory in a compelling contest by scoring a terrific winner for the locals with just short of an hour played.
The occasion was also notable for being Neale Fenn's last game here before joining Bohemians while at half-time, as it turned out, the locals also got to bid adieu to the club's chairman of the last five years, Brian Lennox.
Amid speculation that a new consortium led, perhaps, by local developer Owen O'Callaghan is set to buy him out, Lennox confirmed in his programme notes he would depart during the coming close season. He will be recalled after he is gone for having helped bring some very good times to a club that has often struggled to fulfil its potential although the departure itself may well be remembered for the startling half-time rendition of Memories by City's legendary community liaison officer, Noelle Feeney.
For entertainment value it was tough stuff to top but both sidessucceeded in producing a genuinely enthralling encounter. Though Shelbourne arrived on the verge of clinching the title, City had the more urgent need of the three points. Anything less and their claim to be still champions would fatally undermined while, more practically, there is still the matter of European football to be secured for next season.
Sure enough, they looked much the more lively of the teams through the opening half, playing with confidence going forward and always looking a little sharper than their opponents when battling for possession in midfield.
O'Donovan's form since moving up front recently has earned comparisons with Kevin Doyle, who made a similar transition here from wide man to striker, and it wasn't hard to see why here even before the goal. Through the first half he and Fenn caused persistent problems for the Shelbourne centre backs and both came close to scoring.
Fenn produced a cheekily chipped shot that curled just wide of Steve Williams' left-hand post while his 21 year-old team-mate's downward header bounced off the top of the crossbar and over when Billy Woods' cross had looked set to yield something more.
The goal came less than a minute after Fenn had clashed with Seán Dillon and was rightly penalised by Ian Stokes amid howls from the crowd for a penalty. This time it was O'Donovan who came shoulder to shoulder with the Dublin club's stand in right back and it was the Corkman who easily came out on top before coolly pushing the ball past the approaching Steve Williams and, with a tiny bit of good fortune, behind Dave Rogers who had scrambled across in the hope of making a goal-line clearance.
The crowd celebrated with a gusto that was rivalled only by their reaction to the news from Inchicore of Mark Farren's goal for Derry.
Pat Fenlon tried to liven up his attack with the introduction of Jason Byrne and the redeployment of Jamie Harris from defence to attack. Neither made much of an impact, though, and even after Joe Gamble was sent off for a foolish piece of time wasting Shelbourne struggled to find a way of testing Michael Devine.
CORK CITY: Devine; Horgan, Bennett, Murray, Murphy; Lordan (B O'Callaghan, 80 mins), O'Brien, Gamble, Woods; Fenn (Softic, 85 mins), O'Donovan (Behan, 88 mins).
SHELBOURNE: Williams; Dillon, Hawkins, Harris, Rogers; O'Halloran, S Byrne, Moore (Baker, half-time), Cahill (Heary, 76 mins); Crowe, O'Neill (J Byrne, 61 mins).
Referee: I Stokes (Dublin).
