Throw Back Thursday: Seanie Maguire hat-trick against Dundalk helped City put one hand on the title 

SIX years ago this week, Cork City travelled up to Oriel Park and put one hand on the League of Ireland Premier Division title by beating Dundalk 3-0 in their home stadium.

Sean Maguire, just days before it was announced that he would sign for Preston North End, netted a hat-trick that turned City into champions elect at the midway point of the season.

He previously scored a penalty to give City a 1-0 win over Dundalk at Oriel Park in March 2016. 

This was different, as the goals gave the club a cushion at the top of the table that they never once relinquished during the run in.

What made this better was that it was John Caulfield and the player’s fourth consecutive victory over Dundalk, a run that started with an extra-time victory in the 2016 FAI Cup final. The club were suddenly leading the pack, and they had trophies to back it up.

They started the year by adding the President’s Cup to their trophy cabinet, and by June 2nd 2017 they were into the Munster Senior Cup final and the semi-finals of the League of Ireland Cup. 

There were genuinely conversations of a domestic clean sweep, something last done by Derry City in the 1988/89 season.

The thoughts of a clean sweep didn’t enter anyone’s head as they made the long journey up the M1. 

This was about a rivalry that started in the most unexpected ways and graduated into one that dominated Irish football for five consecutive seasons. 

It began with City losing a title decider to Dundalk at Oriel Park in 2014 and that escalated into the two teams contesting nine finals between them in just three years.

2017 was the height of the rivalry as City had flipped the perennial bridesmaid tag by winning the FAI Cup. 

This was all about the league, something everyone in Cork was crying out for after finishing second three years in a row.

The team that started in Oriel Park was one of the best ever in the history of Cork soccer. It included Alan Bennett in defence, Gearoid Morrissey in midfield, and Maguire up top. This was the spine of a group that rampaged through the start of the season by winning 15 games and drawing just once.

City almost scored inside the opening ten seconds through Maguire, but his first time finish hit the side netting. He was played through by Karl Sheppard and the next time the winger played that pass, the ball hit the back of the net in the 19th minute and City took the lead.

It could have been so different as David McMillan managed to pounce on a misplaced clearance by Johnny Dunleavy at the start of the game and his shot bobbed wide.

City kept up the pressure and there were determined to kill the game off with a second goal. Their possession created a number of chances with the first coming from a Stephen Dooley corner that Ryan Delaney headed on. After Gary Rogers saved this, Sheppard and Morrissey saw long range shots go narrowly wide of the intended target.

The only real chance of note that Dundalk had at the end of the first half came from a Michael Duffy corner that found an unmarked Dane Massey inside the area. The midfielder, who had the captains armband instead of Stephen O’Donnell on the night, put this narrowly wide.

The second half was a lot more even with both teams creating chances at a furious pace. Maguire started this by sending a cross to Jimmy Keohane and this narrowly missed the head of the midfielder. Niclas Vemmelund also got on the end of ball in from Robbie Benson and Mark McNulty saved this. The goalkeeper also had to push an attempt from Benson out for a corner, and the set piece was headed over by Thomas Stewart.

With 20 minutes left to play, a Maguire header beat Rogers and made it 2-0 to City. The striker completed his hat-trick In the third minute of injury time by making the most of some lax defending and he rolled the ball into an empty net.

It ended up as the start of a glorious summer for Cork sport, as the hurlers beat Clare at the beginning of July in the final of the Munster Senior Hurling Championship. The O’Duffy Cup also came back to Leeside after the senior camogie team beat Kilkenny by a point in the All-Ireland final.

As for City, what happened next is the stuff of folklore in Cork sports. The victory helped created a situation that City could have won the league in September. They got it over the line by playing out a stalemate with Derry City at the beginning of October at Turner’s Cross.