Cork City 0 Portadown 1
The main talking point after a fractious tie at Turner's Cross last night was the performance of referee John Feighery, whose decisions were a source of frustration to both teams.
He showed red cards to Portadown's Gary Hamilton in the 36th minute and Cork goalkeeper Mark McNulty in the 89th minute. Yet in between, he showed remarkable leniency in a game that was highly physical.
Hamilton's dismissal came five minutes after he had scored the decisive goal in sparkling fashion. He turned on to a superb pass from Vinny Arkins to volley a shot over McNulty's head.
McNulty's dismissal came when he raced 30 yards out of his penalty area to fly-kick the ball off the toe of Peter McCann as the Portadown winger ran clear of the defence. As the players tumbled to the ground the referee clearly deemed the tackle a foul.
Cork generally paid the penalty for showing a lack of finish, but much of the credit must go to Portadown goalkeeper Paul Murphy. He and his nine colleagues defended stoutly throughout the second half to produce a result that left Shelbourne as winners of the section and sent them into Saturday's final.
The game began to slip from Cork's control from the 11th minute when goalkeeper Murphy parried a shot from O'Callaghan and Kevin Doyle knocked in the rebound, only to have the referee rule it out for offside.
The first division game between Athlone Town and Galway United, which had been scheduled for this Friday night, was postponed yesterday as a mark of respect to Athlone midfielder Shane Brennan, who died over the weekend following an accident.
The 23-year-old former colleges international was injured when a roof gave way from under him on Friday night. He died from his injuries at the Midland Regional Hospital on Sunday evening.
The president of the FAI, Milo Corcoran, yesterday offered his condolences to the friends and family of Brennan.
CORK CITY:McNulty, Horgan, Bennett, Murray, Woods, O'Donovan, O'Brien (Gamble 73), O'Callaghan, Kearney (O'Flynn 67 mins), Doyle, Behan (Fenn 81 mins).
PORTADOWN:Murphy, Craig, Kelly, Lindsay, Alderdice, McCann, Boyce, Collins, Clarke, Arkins, Hamilton.
Referee:J Feighery (Dublin)