LIMERICK STUN CORK TO TURN TITLE RACE ON ITS HEAD

CORK CITY 2

LIMERICK FC 3

GOALS from Vinny Faherty and Dean Clarke had a re-vitalised Limerick 2-1 up at the interval in last night’s Munster derby at a sun-drenched Turner’s Cross. And Martin Russell’s side turned the title race upside down as they ran out 3-2 victors in front of a 3,018 crowd. The visitors played all the good football in the first half to take the initiative twice as Faherty opened the scoring after eight minutes before substitute Ross Gaynor equalised on 21 minutes after coming on for a concussed Johnny Dunleavy. Limerick hit the front again when Dean Clarke netted after Ian Turner’s shot was blocked by an out-of-sorts McNulty. John O’Flynn stabbed home, making it 2-2 on 57 minutes but Paudie O’Connor popped in a 65th minute headed winner.

CORK CITY: McNulty; Healy, Bennett, Murray, O’Connor; Miller, Buckley; Beattie, Dunleavy (Gaynor 17), Sheppard; O’Sullivan (O’Flynn h.t). Scorers: Gaynor 21, O’Flynn 59.

LIMERICK: Hall; O’Conor, O’Connor, Williams, Tracy; Turner, Lynch, Duggan, Russell (Agyemang 82), Clarke; Faherty. Scorers: Faherty 7, Clarke 35, O’Connor 65. Referee: Dave McKeon (Dublin).

FRANK KENT

BOHEMIANS 3

GALWAY UTD 0

AN EASY Bohs win was overshadowed by the sight of Galway’s Marc Ludden being stretchered to an ambulance towards the end of this scrappy game. Bohs were always on top, leading in under ten minutes through the impressive Ismahil Akinade, after Killian Cantwell failed to deal with a ball over the top. The big striker looked to have doubled the lead midway through the first half, crashing a header off the bar. The rebound fell kindly for Jake Kelly to net. It got worse for Galway when Enda Curran received a straight red card for a twofooted lunge on Stephen Best and Kelly wrapped it up with a late penalty.

BOHEMIANS: Delany; Murphy, Prendergast, Best, Fitzgerald (Caffrey 90); Lopes, Buckley (Byrne 90), Mulcahy (Wearen 90+3); Kavanagh, Kelly; Akinade. Scorers: Akinade 9, Kelly 25, 88 (pen).

GALWAY UTD: Hanley; Raferty, Oji, Cantwell, Horgan; Shanahan, Byrne, Sinnott (Ludden 58) (O’Leary 72), Molloy; Keegan, Walsh (Curran 24). Booked: Oji 90+9. Sent-off: Curran 62. Referee: James McKell (Tipperary).

CIARÁN KENNEDY

LONGFORD TOWN 1

SHAMROCK ROVERS 3

A BRACE from Danny North gave Shamrock Rovers their third victory of the season against Longford Town. Rovers took the lead after just three minutes following a controversial penalty decision which the linesman waved for; Michael Drennan’s spot-kick was saved by Town keeper Paul Hunt but the striker fired home the rebound. The visitors doubled their advantage 10 minutes later when Danny North exposed poor Town defending. The home side pulled a goal back midway through the first half when Lorcan Shannon finished off Kevin O’Connor’s shot and despite enjoying a bright start to the second half they were left with a mountain to climb when North grabbed a third on 58 minutes.

LONGFORD TOWN: Hunt; Sullivan, Gorman, Powell, Deady; Shannon (Cowan 67), Rice, O’Connor, Gannon (O’Sullivan 67), Ben Mohammed (Simon 76); Shaw. Scorer: Shannnon 26

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Murphy; Madden, Webster, Kenna, Byrne; Brennan, McCabe, Blanchard, Miele; North (McCaffrey 81), Drennan. Scorers: Drennan 3 (pen), North 13, 58 Referee: N Doyle (Dublin).

DENIESE O’FLAHERTY

DROGHEDA UNITED 0

SLIGO ROVERS 4

A BRACE from Morten Nielsen set Sligo Rovers on their way to their first win under new manager Micky Adams. The game sparked on 25 minutes when Robert Bayly was harshly shown a straight red for a challenge on John Russell in midfield. Two minutes later, the visitors led: After Micheál Schlingermann saved brilliantly from Nielsen’s header, Russell sent a cross back in and this time the Dane headed in. Sligo doubled their lead four minutes later when Jason Hughes took advantage of a mix-up between Alan Byrne and Seán Thornton to shoot low past the keeper. Nielsen scored six minutes after the restart before Anthony Elding’s late penalty sealed the points.

DROGHEDA UNITED: Schlingermann; Daly, Byrne, O’Reilly, O’Brien (McKenna, 65); Whelan (Maher, 30), Thornton, Bayly, Marks; Duffy (Hughes, 73), Pender.

SLIGO ROVERS: Brush, Keane, Peers, Clancy, Donelon; Cretaro (Elding, 76), Puri, Russell (Ward, 73), Hughes, Boylan; Nielsen (Corcoran, 76). Scorers: Nielsen 27, 51, Hughes 31, Elding 85pen Referee: Ray Matthews (Westmeath).

BARRY LANDY