Cork City relegated after defeat to Waterford in playoff at Tallaght
Ruairí Keating of Cork City in action against Rowan McDonald of Waterford. City's top scorer had to come injured after the first half. Picture: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
CORK City will be playing First Division football next season as the Rebel Army surrendered the lead to lose to their Munster rivals in the Promotion/Relegation Playoff in Tallaght Stadium on Friday night.
It was a bitterly disappointing night for City who had taken the lead through Cian Coleman early in the second-half but could not hold on to retain their Premier Division status.
The winning goal came from former City player Ronan Coughlan in extra-time after he was awarded a controversial penalty from a collision with Coleman, which he calmly executed. The defeat will be a huge blow for City who now have to start planning for life in the lower tier.
Waterford started the better of the teams and were having a lot of joy down City’s left-hand side. Roland Idowu was troubling Conor Drinan and almost gave Waterford the lead but Tiernan Brooks managed to unconventionally stop the attacker’s effort.
City were nervous at the beginning of the game with the Rebel Army unable to get any sort of foothold in the match. The Rebel Army were left off the hook when Coughlan was wasteful in front of goal.
City continued to give up easy opportunities to their opponents, with Waterford constantly getting in behind the City defence. Conor Parson was played through on goal by Coughlan but from a narrow angle, the Waterford player was unable to find a way past Brooks, who did well to prevent the effort from hitting the net by saving with his foot.
City’s first real opportunity of the game came when Ben Worman put a low ball across the six-yard area but Cian Baragary was just unable to connect with the ball to tap into an empty net.
Baragary should have done better moments later when Joe O’Brien-Whitmarsh wonderfully put a ball across the face of goal but Baragry once again failed to get anything on the ball.
City had the bobbly surface to thank for the score remaining level after they were caught on the counter-attack. However with the Rebel Army outnumbered at the back, Idowu was unable to keep down his shot as the ball bounced off the surface.
The Rebel Army twice came close to taking the lead when Cian Murphy forced Sam Sargeant into a fine stop before Hakkinen did the same moments later.
City did take the lead when Coleman ghosted into the back-post area and headed into the net from Barry Coffey’s inswinging free-kick. The goal brought a lot of joy to the City’s skipper who showed his emotions with his crest-grabbing celebrations to the City supporters.
Waterford drew level with a wonderful goal from Parson after the attacker collected the ball on the edge of the area before beautifully curling the ball into the far top corner.
City should have restored their advantage but this time they were the victims of the poor surface at Tallaght Stadium. Murphy played a low cross that was destined to leave O’Brien-Whitmarsh with the simplest of finishes only for the ball to bobbly off the surface and take it off the foot of the City player.
Waterford came within inches of winning the game in normal time but Darragh Power headed wide when he should have scored.
City went behind in the first half of extra time after referee Damien MacGraith awarded Waterford a penalty for what he deemed a foul by Coleman on Coughlan. The decision seemed harsh on the City skipper with Coughlan leaning into Coleman rather than the defender committing a foul. From the spot, Coughlan calmly slotted past Brooks, although the City keeper did make it much easier for the former City player by committing himself very early.
The Rebel Army came within inches of equalising but Tunde Owolabi’s powerful strike came back off the post, much to the agony of the City supporters and players.
Sergeant; Burke, Osede, Philips, Power; McDonald (Cantwell 112), Idowu (Cresswell 69), Parson(Griffin 97), Akachukwu (McMenamy 69), Baggley (O’Keeffe 114); Coughlan.
Brooks; Honohan, Hakkinen, Coleman, Drinan (inj, O’Donovan 19), (Kabia 105); Bargary (Owolabi 90), Bolger, Kravchuk (inj, O’Brien-Whitmarsh 25), Coffey (Walker 90), Worman; Keating (inj, Murphy 46).
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