Rovers' gifts enough for Cork

Maybe all the talk of a winter break is a little premature after all. Part of the thinking behind the proposal is, of course, to improve the quality of football but the fact is that, on pitches which have offered about as much grip as your average ice rink, over the past couple of days we've been treated to cup ties as thrilling as you could hope for.

Unlike Galway's dramatic victory the night before, yesterday's win by Cork City was scarcely a shock. That it was a better game than in Santry was at least mildly surprising as Damien Richardson's side forced Cork to keep up the pace of an always fast moving tie until the very death.

Having allowed City to take a 2-0 lead in the first half through Patsy Freyne and Derek Coughlan, not even the visiting side's determined heroics of the closing half-hour ever really looked likely to save them.

"It seems with this Shamrock Rovers team that they play when they want to and that," said a bitterly disappointed Richardson afterwards "is simply unacceptable to me.

"In the first half," he added with a sudden display of alliteration that Kelvin McKenzie would have been proud of "we were ineffectual, inept and indecisive; in the second we were passionate, proud and powerful. At the end I can say we went out fighting." Chief among the blunders was the defending of the first goal which started innocuously in midfield with a City freekick. It was taken quickly to Colin O'Brien down the right and he had plenty of time to line up the cross, sending in a gently curling ball that Freyne headed low to Tony O'Dowd's left from eight yards.

For the 20 minutes between that goal and the second, which Coughlan finally pushed in after Dave Hill's shot had been stopped but not gathered by O'Dowd, City looked far too strong for their visitors. With Freyne causing endless problems for the Rovers defence with his constant roaming just behind lone striker Pat Morley and the City midfield enjoying the better of the contest there could have been further goals. More than once the unpredictability of the surface came to the Dublin club's rescue.

But even allowing for that, Dave Barry was quick to concede afterwards that Rovers did enough to cause him and the rest of the City bench considerable distress. True, Gino Brazil was having another hard day looking after Ollie Cahill and Terry Palmer was fortunate more than once to get away with his robust marking of Morley (escape of the day, though, belonged to Dave Hill who could well have been dismissed for a challenge on Byrne after 63 minutes but wasn't even booked).

But Sean Francis and Graham Lawlor had their moments and, particularly in the minutes after Brian Byrne had sent former City player Billy Woods in for a neatly finished goal, the prospect of the visitors earning a crack at extratime seemed far from fanciful.

"That's the thing about the cup, it's always a bit iffy. That's why I was so delighted to see the third goal go in," said Barry.

It could hardly have been a more painful sight for his opposite number. Cahill picked up the ball from a partially cleared corner and ran at the Rovers defence. His cross wasn't great but with Morley bearing down O'Dowd lost his grip on the wet ball and Derek Coughlan only had to keep his head to tap home from five yards out.

Rovers continued to scrap to save themselves over the remaining 19 minutes, Sean Francis even hit the post, but their chance had passed.

Cork City: Harrington; O'Halloran, Coughlan, Hill, Cronin; C O'Brien, L O'Brien, Herrick, Cahill; Freyne; Morley. Subs: Caulfield for C O'Brien (81 mins), Cotter for L O'Brien (90 mins).

Shamrock Rovers: O'Dowd; Brazil, Jackson, Palmer, Dunne; Byrne, Crowley, Colwell, Woods; Lawlor, Francis. Subs: Holt for Crowley (39 mins), Britton for Jackson (56 mins), Cousins for Holt (71 mins).

Referee: G Perry (Dublin).