Cork C 4 UCD 2:DAVIN O'NEILL scored his second hat-trick of the season as Cork City made it four consecutive league games unbeaten against UCD at Turner's Cross.
After Paul O’Conor had given the visitors an equaliser they scarcely deserved in the 79th minute, poking home the rebound after Mark McNulty pushed a Daniel Ledwith free kick on to the post, City were awarded a penalty straight away as Hugh Douglas handled.
O’Neill stroked home the penalty for his second of the game and then in injury time he added a third as he capitalised on a mistake by goalkeeper Mark McGinley, who had otherwise performed well.
After a bright start, Cork took the lead on 13 as Daryl Horgan’s shot from 20 yards took a deflection that was enough to help it past Mark McGinley.
Echoing what would happen later, however, UCD were given a penalty immediately as Chris Lyons was fouled and Graham Rusk converted from the spot.
Eight minutes before half-time, Cork took the lead again thanks to an excellent O’Neill individual goal, defender Michael Leahy just failing to clear the striker’s goal-bound effort off the line.
UCD threatened, mainly through O’Conor, early in the second half and while Cork looked better, they couldn’t put the game to bed before the equaliser. Eventually, though, they prevailed.
CORK CITY: McNulty; Healy, Dunleavy, Spillane, D Murphy; D Horgan (Turner, 71 mins), Morrissey, Duggan, O’Neill; Purcell, Sullivan (Kenny, 90 mins).
UCD: McGinley; Douglas, Leahy, O’Connor, Ledwith; Rusk, O’Conor, Corry, Benson, Burke (Nangle, half-time); Lyons (Belhout, 84 mins).
Referee: J McKell (Tipperary).
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