Burke puts in five-star show to rout Cork

GRAHAM BURKE scored five times as Shamrock Rovers routed a Cork City side that played half the game with 10 men at Tallaght Stadium. Given the conditions of swirling wind and rain, it was little surprise that a mistake finally brought the goal a dour game required on 32 minutes. Centre-half Joseph Olowu scuffed his attempted clearance from Jack Byrne’s cross straight to Burke, who picked his spot with a crisp shot to the bottom corner. Rovers doubled their lead on 42 minutes. Skipper Ronan Finn’s low cross from the right fell for Burke in the six-yard box to toepoke into the net. The game was up for Cork just before half-time when Deshane Dalling was shown a straight red card for a lunging challenge on Roberto Lopes. It was one-way traffic from the resumption, Rovers adding to their lead on the hour. Burke’s smart backheel return to Byrne brought the shot from the edge of the area which Liam Bossin couldn’t keep out. Bossin failed to gather Farrugia’s cross to allow Burke to collect at the back post before drilling a shot to the net for his hat-trick on 74 minutes. A deflected shot brought Burke’s fourth four minutes later before he completed the rout on 80 minutes. SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mannus; O’Brien (Scales, h-t), Lopes, Grace; Finn, McEneff (Watts, 61), O’Neill, Byrne, Farrugia; Greene (Williams, 66), Burke. Scorers: Burke 33, 45, 75, 78, 80, Byrne 61. CORK CITY: Bossin; Stabana, Olowu, Redmond, Hurley; Ochieng, Morrissey, Byrne (Fleming, 66); O’Connor (Dillon, h-t), McGlade (Slevin 72), Dalling. Referee: S Grant (Wexford).