Sligo Rovers 0 Cork City 2

Cork City moved to within four points of leaders Dundalk with a clinical defeat of Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds on Saturday night.

Ross Gaynor made a huge difference coming off the bench against his former team – scoring the second at the death and winning the free that enabled Mark O’Sullivan to open the scoring on 58 minutes.

New Sligo Rovers boss Micky Adams was left disappointed in his first game in charge, and Limerick’s win over Bohemians mean that the Bit O’ Red are just four points off the basement side.

Eager to impress the new boss, Rovers started well, and Corcoran and Puri combined to set up Jason Hughes, who just could not stretch enough to direct a volley goalwards on 12 minutes.

Jason Hughes went closest to opening the deadlock on 34 minutes, when impressive Rovers youngster Regan Donelon forced Miller into a mistake, and the Bit O’ Red worked the ball to the former Limerick midfielder outside the area, and he forced a decent save from the Cork keeper.

Nielsen also tested McNulty, but a scoreless first half was a fair reflection of an even 45 minutes.

But Cork dominated the second half with Liam Miller superb and Gaynor – a substitute for the injured Kevin O’Connor – making a big impact.

He was fouled at the edge of the box shortly after his introduction, and Miller rolled the ball for O’Sullivan to fire into the bottom corner.

And Gaynor claimed the clincher on 87 minutes, after Miller and Sheppard combined, and Gaynor punished from the rebound after Richard Brush saved initially from Steven Beattie.

Sligo Rovers: Brush, Keane, Peers, Clancy, Donelon, Cretaro, Boylan, Hughes, Puri (Armstrong 72), Corcoran (Keating 72), Nielsen.

Cork City: McNulty, Healy, Bennett, Murray, O’Connor (Gaynor 53), Beattie (Morrissey 90), Miller (Folan 90), Dunleavy, Buckley, Sheppard, O’Sullivan.

Ref: P Tuite.