Joey O'Brien era begins with a win for Shelbourne but they need bizarre JJ Lunney goal to clinch points

Irish Independent

12 hours ago

The Joey O'Brien era started off for real in this tie at home to the league's bottom side, his first game in charge as the permanent successor to Damien Duff after two previous matches - both draws - as the Reds' interim head coach, and O'Brien certainly has food for thought over the weekend before Linfield come to town for the first leg of their Champions League battle.
Shels were 2-0 up after six minutes and won by a two-goal margin but they did let the game get away from them for spells in the second half as Cork side, reduced to 10 men after a red card early in the second half for Charlie Lyons, recovered from an utterly dismal start to take the game to the champions. Shels needed a late - and bizarre - goal from JJ Lunney seven minutes from time to make sure.
Shels are unlikely to have the gifts presented to them by Cork, in the form of soft goals and a red card, when they face the Blues in that European tie with a prize of €2m at the end.
With just six minutes gone, it looked as if the game was already dead as far as City were concerned, with perhaps the temptation from some of the travelling support to make an early exit and beat the traffic. Cork were wide open, incredibly so, in that opening spell, both goals gifted to the champions.
Only 90 seconds had elapsed when Shels were ahead. Lyons was far too lax in possession and he allowed Harry Wood to win the ball and Wood bounded forward to bundle the ball over the line.
Cork barely had time to draw breath when they were 2-0 down. City as a unit were guilty of standing off and allowing Shels to play a series of passes across the field without a tackle to be seen, before Evan Caffrey picked out Wood. He played a short ball into the waiting Mipo Odubeko and he had time and space to fire past the unfortunate Conor Brann, making his debut in the City goal.
It could have been 4-0 by the 20-minute mark, Brann saving from Ali Coote before Odubeko fired wide and there was a real concern for how much damage Shels could do. But City did find their feet, eventually, sparked on 36 minutes when Freddie Anderson got a header which was wide but still a threat. And on 42 minutes they were back in the game. Shels didn't deal with a corner from Alex Nolan, Anderson and Lyons combined to set up Kitt Nelson and came up with a nice finish, his third goal of the season.
Cork boss Ger Nash made changes at the break, Seáni Maguire and veteran Seán Murray sacrificed as Evan McLaughlin and Malik Dijksteel came into the fray but they were then forced into a reshuffle five minutes after the restart when defender Lyons was dismissed, a straight red card for a challenge on Kerr McInroy.
The arrival off the bench of another new face, defender Fiacre Kelleher, did add some steel and Cork will clearly benefit from the leadership of the vocal Kelleher in times ahead but this tie was always going to be a struggle.
To their credit, Cork were a much better unit in the second half, even with that one-man deficit, as they frustrated the home side, without much of a threat of their own as front man Dijksteel was starved of any service.
Shels looked unconvincing for long spells, coming close on 63 minutes when Wood - their best player on the night - fired wide before James Norris also went close. On 76 minutes Cork had Matthew Kiernan to thank for blocking a shot from Wood, a concern for home fans when Wood appeared to pull up with an injury in that goal attempt.
Even though City did not look likely to score again, Shels still needed an insurance policy and Lunney delivered on 83 minutes as he whipped into the box a ball which was more of a cross than a shot and it caught Brann off guard, a third goal for the Reds and a first win in four games.
Shelbourne: Kearns; Coyle, Ledwidge, Barrett; Caffrey (Boyd 60), Lunney, McInroy (Kelly 60), Norris, Coote (Chapman 60), Wood (O'Sullivan 77); Odubeko (Martin 71).
Cork City: Brann; Mbeng, Crowley, Anderson (Lutz 76), Lyons, Kiernan; Bolger, Murray (McLaughlin 46); Nolan (Kelleher 53), Murray, Nelson (O'Sullivan 53); Maguire (Dijksteel 46).