Jayden O'Donovan and Denzell Obenge fire Cork City past Ringmahon Rangers in Munster Senior Cup

Ringmahon Rangers 0 Cork City 2 

 Cork City are through to the semi-finals of the Munster Senior Cup for the first time in three years after beating Ringmahon Rangers at Mayfield.

Jayden O'Donovan and Denzell Obenge were on target as a City U20 selection got the job done once again, following on from their victory over Midleton in the last round.

Niall O'Keeffe was the exception to the rule as the new signing from Cobh Ramblers was stationed in midfield protecting the defence, in an entertaining game played on a cold night at the home of Mayfield United.

The Rebel Army were up against a Ringmahon Rangers outfit sitting on top of the Munster Senior League Premier Division, and buoyant from a run of form that has produced just one defeat in their last 10 games.

The Munster Senior Cup was where things really took flight during this spell, as Aidan Foley's side had defeated Treaty United in the previous round.

That was a huge result for a group that began their campaign with a 6-0 victory over Youghal United last October.

City weren't in that position. This was just their second competitive outing of the year, following on from their tie with Midleton FC in the Round of 16, while the majority of the seniors got back to full fitness with friendlies with Premier Division sides Waterford and Galway United.

The U20s are currently operating in the Munster Senior Cup, a competition City last tasted success in during the 2019 season. Since then, there's been three lost finals in addition to early exits at the hands of Wilton United and Cobh Ramblers.

With the kids trusted, Ringmahon used their experience to hit the back of the net in the 14th minute and this was disallowed by the referee over a foul on AJ Nash.

What played out was a battle between a City side hellbent on keeping possession and creating chances by passing their way into space, and Ringmahon outfit that were quick to get back in numbers and close down.

Christopher McCarthy and Anthony Whitehead were excellent for the Munster Senior League side, while Ethon Varian tracked back with Anthony McAlavey as their League of Ireland rivals tried to create through patience.

Eventually, Matthew Murray tried his luck from distance only to see his effort pushed out for a corner by Eric Grimes. Brody Lee got into a similar position before the break, and narrowly missed the target with a curling strike from the edge of the area.

It was evenly poised, and this showed with the game perfectly balanced at 0-0 when the referee blew his whistle.

The game restarted with Whitehead getting in the way of a Cillian Murphy shot, and Liam Quinn hitting the loose ball just wide.

The Rebel Army went again once they got possession back, leading to a close-range strike getting pushed away by Eric Grimes. City quickly recovered and set up O’Donovan for a right-footed shot that crept in to give them the lead in the 50th minute.

Ringmahon pushed up immediately in retaliation, and a push for an equaliser began with a deep cross that was picked up by Nash. McAlavey then tried his luck with his favoured right boot and the midfielder hit the ball just over the bar.

O’Donovan broke against this pressure, leading to a curling effort that was pushed away by Grimes on the hour mark.

The Ringers went to their bench in retaliation and one of their substitutes, Conor Pugh, announced his arrival by rattling the crossbar.

The Munster Senior League side eventually had to start dropping crosses into the box, where City held their own physically while Nash cleaned up.

Ringmahon kept going, with McAlavey finding Varian and the striker narrowly missed the target at the near post as their push for an equaliser went on.

The Rebel Army held firm before sealing the win in injury time with Obenge hitting the back of the net from close range.

RINGMAHON: Eric Grimes; Darragh O'Shea, Anthony O'Donnell, Christopher McCarthy, Anthony Whitehead; Jamie O'Sullivan, Luke Kiely, Nathan Broderick, Jack Cairns; Anthony McAlavey, Ethon Varian.

Subs: Conor Pugh for Cairns (66);Roy Kenny for O’Shea (74), Adam Delurey for Whitehead (79), Aidan O’Shea for Broderick (80), Jake Courtney for McCarthy (90).

CITY: AJ Nash; Finn Dalton, Liam Quinn, Luke Downey, Niall O'Keeffe, Matthew Murray, Cillian Murphy, Conor O'Sullivan, Dara McCormick, Brody Lee, Jayden O'Donovan.

Subs: Dylan O’Connell for Murphy (66); Cian Daly for O’Donovan (70), Denzell Obenge for Murray (70).

Referee: Darren O'Sullivan