Cork City respond to Athlone scare with commanding second half
FLYING FORM: AJ Bridge of Cork City celebrates after scoring his side's fourth goal with teammate Hans Mpongo at Turner's Cross. Picture: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile
Routine by the finish, but the path to victory wasn’t quite as straightforward as the scoreline suggests for Cork City.
The hosts were 2-0 up at Turner’s Cross and set to hold that advantage until the interval, but when Derinsola Adewale leapt out of nowhere to head home before half-time, he gave Athlone Town a chance.
Barry Robson’s response on Friday evening was to alleviate the pressure on City’s back three and instead switch to a four, and the switch bore fruit when Greg Bolger and AJ Bridge added the third and fourth goals to seal a sixth First Division win in seven for the Rebel Army.
“I think we took our chances there tonight,” Robson began after the victory. "I think we thoroughly deserved to win the game. We went two up and I thought we should have probably got another goal.
“I think the general game itself, credit to their manager,” he said. “He left three players up against our three centre-backs. Sometimes, no matter what you coach or how well you do, you've got to give credit, sometimes an opposition manager can influence the game.
“We never thought they would do that, but we still got our goals and because they came after us, we've got those dangerous weapons at the top end of the pitch and we used that well and they couldn't cope with that.
“We went in at 2-1. In the second half, we changed to a back four and we got so much more control of the game,” Robson explained. “We played out through our full-backs, we got our wide players really stretching them and then they couldn't handle us after that.”
Their first reward arrived after 65 minutes, Bolger’s cross for Ruairí Keating proving to be just out of reach of the forward, but still finding its way into the back of the net.
Then, in the 88th minute, Mpongo slipped substitute AJ Bridge through and he drove home his first goal for the club.
With 2,306 flocking to the Cross, City did enough in the first half, even if it was a touch scrappy.
They raced into an early lead when Keating’s shot attempt was nudged over the line by Mpongo after six minutes. They were fortunate not to lose their lead when Patrick Ferry’s pass for Peter Grogan escaped the control of Fiacre Kelleher, though Grogan couldn’t convert.
City’s second goal was better constructed than the first. Josh Fitzpatrick carried it down the flank, then fed Seani Maguire centrally. His long ball getting in behind the Town defence for Mpongo to reach, cut back and square for Conor Drinan.
Drinan made no mistake, curling it into the far corner.
That same four man passage – in the very same order – almost added a third three minutes later, but Drinan’s shot was closed down.
But – just before the break – Athlone had their moment. Aaron Connolly launched in a cross, Adewale leapt up to meet it, powering home to leave it 2-1.
On the resumption, City immediately got to scoring again, firing two goals in two minutes that were both disallowed by referee Oliver Moran.
The first one came after Darragh Crowley teed up Maguire and though his attempt was saved, Keating poked home the rebound but was deemed to have been offside.
A minute later, Maguire’s beautifully threaded pass sent Fitzpatrick tearing down the flank, but Athlone closed the angle and City won a corner, which Drinan launched in and Seani converted, but not before the whistle went for a free-kick against City.
Even with the disallowed goals, City maintained their second half control, never allowing their opponents back into the game.
And eventually, Robson’s side profited from their persistence.
Brann; Feely, Lyons, Kelleher; Fitzpatrick (Murray 77); Bolger (Bridge 66), Crowley, Drinan (Kiernan 88); Maguire (O’Keeffe 88); Mpongo, Keating.
Trainor; Webb, Kehir, E O’Connor, K O’Connor (Crawford 73); Moloney, Connolly; Ferry, Lyons (Smith 31), Adewale (Lomboto 63 inj); Grogan (Sheerin 73).
O Moran (Dublin)
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