Derry City 1 Bohemians 0
Derry City may have consolidated their second place in the Premier Division table but the Candystripes made hard work of this victory over Bohemians at the Brandywell.
While Kenny Shiels’s side certainly deserved to win the game, they really should have ended this fixture as a contest much earlier having failed to build on their 13th-minute lead.
And with just one goal separating the sides, the home side experienced a very nervous finish with Bohemians applying serious pressure during the latter stages of the second half.
Having clearly dominated the opening period, Derry’s Nathan Boyle squandered two chances during the opening 10 minutes. Indeed, the winger caused Bohs no shortage of problems but he failed to hit the target with his first effort, before Dean Delany saved his cross-cum-shot.
However, Derry’s persistence reaped dividends in the 13th minute. Keith Ward produced a superb reverse pass which sent Barry McNamee scampering clear. As the midfielder was challenged by the advancing Delany, the ball broke into the path of Rory Patterson who fired home his sixth league goal of the season.
Kurtis Byrne ballooned an effort over the Derry cross bar in the 19th minute and the same player failed to control the ball on the half hour when well placed inside the danger area.
Derry hit back with Patterson failing to reach Boyle’s cross while Delany did well to punch clear a thunderous drive from Boyle in the 40th minute.
Bohemians went close to equalising during injury time but Ger Doherty did well to block Eoin Wearen’s fierce shot before the ball was cleared to safety.
Following the change of ends, Derry continued to huff and puff in attack but they failed to seriously trouble Delany while Bohs, having introduced Mark Quigley at the start of the second half, failed to produce that vital cutting edge.
DERRY CITY: G Doherty; Vemmelund, McBride, McClean, McDermott; McCormack, McEneff; Boyle (Curtis, 83 mins), McNamee, Ward (R Doherty, 90 mins); Patterson. BOHEMIANS: Delany; D. Byrne, Prendergast, Mulcahy, Fitzgerald; Kavanagh, Lopes, Wearen, Ben Mohamed (Kelly, 70 mins); Buckley, K Byrne. Referee: P Tuite (Dublin).
Wexford Youths 0 Galway United 2
Vinny Faherty maintained his sparkling form in front of goal, scoring twice to move Galway United back up to third place in the table.
Having scored in his previous two league games, Faherty broke the deadlock at Ferrycarrig Park five minutes into the second half as Chris Kenny’s foul on Stephen Walsh was clinically punished by Tommy Dunne’s westerners.
Captain Ryan Connolly whipped the free kick into area where Faherty found the far corner of the net with a well-placed header.
Galway should have been further ahead on 63 minutes. First Faherty’s effort was bravely blocked by Youths defender Stephen Last.
Home goalkeeper Graham Doyle then excelled with the save of the night, getting down to his right to keep out Padraic Cunningham’s low drive.
In what was a replica of their opening goal, Galway doubled their lead on six minutes later.
Again Connolly put his diagonal free kick into the area for Faherty to rise at the far post to head past Doyle for his seventh goal of the season.
John Sullivan was inches from a third goal for Galway on six minutes later. Faherty turned in the area to set up the midfielder who cracked a right-foot shot off Doyle’s crossbar.
Reeling from last week’s 4-0 defeat at St Patrick’s, Wexford might have put it right behind them with a real chance after just two minutes when Paul Murphy threaded Andy Mulligan in on goal. Galway goalkeeper Conor Winn was fully alert to the danger and was off his line quickly to save with his feet.
Doyle soon saw action at the other, though, back-pedalling frantically to push away Faherty’s flicked shot after Marc Ludden picked him out from a throw.
Again Doyle came to Youths’ rescue just past the half hour with his second save of the first half. Ludden was again the instigator on the left flank, putting Cunningham in on goal with Doyle out promptly to save.
Youths’ Murphy might have done better with an opening on 37 minutes, but his lob had just a little too much purchase on it as it dropped wide of Winn’s far post.
WEXFORD YOUTHS: Doyle; McCabe, G. Delaney, Last, Ledwith; Friel (Whittle, 79), Bonner, Kenny, Mulligan; Molloy; Murphy.
GALWAY UNITED: Winn; Horgan, Sinnott, Folan (Cantwell, 23), Walsh; Shanahan, Sullivan, Connolly, Ludden; Cunningham (Keating, 85), Faherty.
Referee: Adriano Reale (Kildare).
Cork City 3 Finn Harps 1
A three-game run of league draws was ended in comfortable fashion by Cork City at Turner’s Cross on Friday night.
While John Caulfield’s side had beaten Waterford United 7-0 in the EA Sports Cup on Monday night, games against Sligo Rovers, Wexford Youths and Galway United had seen them lose ground in the title race, making this win all-important, especially ahead of a week where they host both Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic.
The home faithful in the crowd of 2,403 didn’t have long to wait to be put at ease though, as Gearóid Morrissey’s 20-yard strike took a deflection which diverted the ball past goalkeeper Richard Brush.
Soon after that, Seán Maguire – like Morrissey an addition to the side since the Galway game – doubled the lead when he was allowed to head home from Stephen Dooley’s good corner. It didn’t set in train a flurry of goals but the hosts were able to dominate possession for the remainder of the half as Harps were penned back.
Ten minutes into the second half, City’s rhythm might have been disrupted when they were reduced to 10 men. After a corner, defender Kenny Browne caught Brush, causing Dave Scully to react, and Browne found himself dismissed for his part in the scuffle.
However, Garry Buckley dropped back into defence and the flow of the game wasn’t changed. Sub Karl Sheppard made it 3-0 when he finished smartly after Seán Maguire had engineered an opening and, while Ryan Curran did get a late consolation goal for Harps, it mattered little.
CORK CITY: McNulty; Dunleavy, Bennett, Browne, O'Connor; Bolger, G Morrissey; Beattie (D Morrissey, 77 mins), Buckley, Dooley (Sheppard, 57 mins); Maguire (O'Sullivan, 77 mins).
FINN HARPS: Brush (Gallagher, 61 mins); Boyle, McNulty, Mailey, Coll; Curran, Foy (McNamee, 10 mins), Harkin, Houston, Hanlon (Flatley, 25 mins); Scully.
Referee: P Sutton (Clare).
Attendance: 2,403.
