CORK CITY HOLD BRITTLE ST PATS

CORK CITY HOLD BRITTLE ST PATS

D. Ray Morton, 8th March 2014.

 

The Airtricity League of Ireland got under way last night with champions St. Patrick Athletic's visiting Turner's Cross to face Cork City. Played in front of a full house, the action was fast-paced and unpredictable as early season matches tend to be. There were crunching tackles aplenty from the home side who went in as 3/1 underdogs for the win. City racked up several yellow cards with their aggressive approach against a Pats side that couldn't find any real rhythm to their game. They struggled to create chances and their only real threat came from lofting set pieces at goalkeeper Mark McNulty who didn't appear to have the best of games. His distribution and catching was questionable throughout.

Despite this, City managed to look like more of a threat in the first half and managed to take the lead shortly before half-time thanks to a headed goal from midfielder Gary Buckley. Colin Healy floated a cross which was helped on by captain John Dunleavy and Buckley nodded home from close range to give the home side a good platform for the second half.

They didn't manage to hold on to the lead for very long after the restart. Lee Lynch crossed from the right to find Chris Fagan, one of the smallest men on the pitch, who somehow managed to escape City's centre halves and headed home to make it 1-1.

The game was changed as a contest several minutes afterwards. Dunleavy picked up a second yellow card and City were reduced to ten men forcing them to sit back and soak up pressure. Striker Anthony Elding was removed in favour of Mark O'Sullivan who made more of an impact aerially but at this point City were just hanging on. Despite ceding a lot of possession to the visitors, no real threat was evident as it seemed both sides were willing to settle for the draw.

All in all a good spectacle as a season opener. Turner's Cross was packed to the rafters and hopefully, City's performance was good enough to draw people back and keep attendance up for the rest of the season.

Cork City 1-1 St. Patrick's Athletic (Buckley 42'; Fagan 60')

Attendance: 5,000 approx.