SETANTA CUP FINAL/CORK CITY 2 GLENTORAN 1:Cork City put a miserable season off the pitch to one side last night after they came from behind to defeat Glentoran, with Liam Kearney heading home the winner to set off wild celebrations at Turner's Cross.
In an often bruising clash, Alan Matthews' side dominated possession only to go behind in the 12th minute when Daryl Fordyce rolled a free-kick into the patch of Kyle Neill, whose left-footed shot beat Mark McNulty in the City net.
Man of the match Dan Murray equalised from inside the six-yard box after 57 minutes following with Kearney grabbing the winner 16 minutes from time to claim the €150,000 prize.
Danny Murphy swung a delightful cross to the back post, with Denis Behan heading back across for Kearney to nod in.
Despite going into the break a goal behind, Cork had dominated possession after going behind and Kearney highlighted a spirited half-time dressingroom talk as the key to the turnaround.
"At half-time we all said we'll have a right go at it as we didn't want to leave anything out there. It's been a long and emotional season and we wanted this so much after all we've gone through," said Kearney, whose goal was his first in the competition.
"It fell nicely for me and I tried to nip it home," added Kearney.
Murray also opened his Setanta Cup goal account and put it down to a half-time change. "I decided to change my boots for the second-half and it obviously helped. We didn't let them touch the ball in the second half."
Mathews praised his side and the supporters on an emotional evening on Leeside. "It's been a roller-coaster but I'm just delighted for the players and the fans. We were disappointed to give away such a soft goal but we came out in the second half and showed we can play football."
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