LEAGUE OF IRELAND PREMIER DIVISION Cork City 0 Shamrock Rovers 0: CORK CITY remain six points behind second-placed Shamrock Rovers in the League of Ireland Premier Division standings after the sides played out a goalless draw at Turner's Cross last night.
Rovers manager Michael O’Neill won’t have too many complaints about taking a share of the spoils away from Leeside but, after Bohemians’ win over St Patrick’s Athletic, they trail Bohemians by five points in the hunt for the title.
A crowd of 3,691 will do Cork’s depleted coffers no harm, with the playing staff still waiting for the bulk of their July pay packet. Joe Gamble’s comments this week suggest his patience with the club has run out and last night’s game may well have been his last for Cork, with reports strongly linking the Irish international midfielder with a move to Scottish Premier League side Motherwell.
Cork manager Paul Doolin made four changes to the side that suffered a 1-0 defeat away to Bohemians on Friday evening. Neal Horgan, Timmy Kiely, Stephen O’Donnell and Guntars Silagailis dropped out, with Kevin Long, Davin O’Neill, Gamble and Gareth Cambridge getting the nod.
Rovers beat Drogheda 1-0 the last time out but O’Neill elected to recall Darragh Maguire, Stephen Bradley and Seán O’Connor at the expense of Pat Flynn, Aidan Price and Barry Johnston.
Cork should have had their noses in front in the seventh minute when Danny Murphy picked out Cambridge with a pin-point cross from the left but the former Cobh Ramblers youngster sent his header straight at Rovers goalkeeper Barry Murphy.
Rovers had a similar opportunity three minutes later but Gary Twigg’s header from close range was comfortably saved by Dan Connor. Fahrudin Kuduzovic and Davin O’Neill both went close for Cork before the break.
Having joined Rovers from Cork a fortnight ago, Pat Sullivan was making a swift return to Turner’s Cross and the defender was fortunate to make it to the half-time whistle without a booking after reckless challenges on Danny Murphy and Kuduzovic.
Tempers boiled over 10 minutes into the second half after Cork midfielder Cillian Lordan fouled Shane Robinson in the centre circle. Robinson and Danny Murphy were shown yellow cards for their part in the subsequent minor melee.
Rovers’ best opportunity of the half came in the 75th minute when Tadhg Purcell picked out Twigg at the back post but his header was kept out by Connor. Billy Dennehy came close to snatching the opening goal for the home side in the 83rd minute but he was denied at close range by Barry Murphy.
CORK CITY: Connor; O'Halloran, Long, Murray, Murphy; O'Neill , Gamble, Lordan, Dennehy; Cambridge (Kiely, 64 mins), Kuduzovic.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Murphy; Sullivan, Maguire, Sives, Cahill; Bradley (Kavanagh, 81), Robinson; Rice, O'Connor (Baker, 62 mins); Twigg, Purcell.
Referee: N Doyle(Dublin).
