LEAGUE OF IRELAND PREMIER DIVISION: STEPHEN PARKHOUSE spoiled Cork City's party with a last-gasp goal at the Showgrounds on Saturday evening.
Paul Doolin’s side looked to be on their way to victory when the second-half substitute and the former Finn Harps striker connected with Romauld Boco’s crossing ball to fire past Dan Connor with 60 seconds of normal time remaining.
Cork had taken the lead in the 86th minute courtesy of Billy Dennehy who drilled Pat Sullivan’s clever ball past Richard Brush in the visitors’ goal.
“When you’re two minutes away from a win you never settle for a draw,” commented a disappointed Cork manager. “It was a ball down the middle but not a great goal. We played well for the first 25 minutes of the first half but it was difficult with the pitch beginning to cut up.”
Doolin said the Showgrounds was a difficult place to get anything but he was pleased to come away with a point.
Sligo manager Paul Cooke said it was “a decent competitive game played in difficult conditions. Cork are a good side, it was important to get off to a good start and we fully deserved the point.”
Cooke added that he was particularly impressed with the performances of Parkhouse and Shaun Holmes. “Holmes made a mistake for the goal but you have to make mistakes to learn,” said the Sligo manager.
The home side’s captain and former Cork player Conor O’Grady said he was disappointed not to have won but “it would have been a disaster if we lost the first game”.
Denis Behan forced the Sligo goalkeeper into a smart save after 10 minutes of the first half and former Rovers striker Fahrudin Kudozovic showed some neat touches early on.
Owen Morrison had a great chance to put the home side ahead on 22 minutes but he screwed his shot a couple of yards wide of Connor’s goal.
A Holmes piledriver from 40 yards was only inches off target in the 29th minute as the home side stepped up a gear.
Cork went close at the start of the second half when a shot by captain Dan Murray was scrambled off the goal line by Gavin Peers.
Sligo were unable to make much headway at the other end of the pitch but Cooke’s side were stung into action after Dennehy broke the deadlock and they finally found a way through when Parkhouse popped up for his late equaliser.
SLIGO ROVERS: Brush, Peers, Holmes, Ventre, O'Grady, Ryan, Morrison (Parkhouse, 75 mins), Keane (Feeney, 88 mins), Boco, Cretaro, Doherty (Cash, 63 mins).
CORK CITY: Connor, Mezeckis, Horgan, Healy, Gamble, Sullivan, Behan (Silagailis, 78 mins), Murphy, Murray, Kudozovic (O'Donnell, 66 mins) (O'Halloran, 87 mins), Dennehy.
Referee: R Winters (Dublin).
