Cork City edge Swedes for Europa League progress

Cork City 1 BK Hacken 0 (Cork City win 2-1 on aggregate)

The European odyssey continues for Cork City after Kevin O’Connor’s goal helped them to advance past Sweden’s Häcken in Thursday night’s Europa League second qualifying round second leg at Turner’s Cross.

Having weathered a considerable Swedish storm in the opening 24 minutes, left-back O’Connor got forward to assist centre-forward Seán Maguire in the left corner, winning a free kick. From Greg Bolger’s floated delivery, it was O’Connor who met the ball on the volley and a deflection off defender Emil Wahlstrom sent the ball to the net.

Prior to that, John Caulfield’s side had ridden their luck at times, with the impressive Kenny Browne reading the game very well and goalkeeper Mark McNulty making a number of good saves, Alan Bennett there to clear off the line after Mohammed Abubakari’s shot had beaten the netminder.

Theoretically, the goal didn’t change the landscape as Häcken always needed to score after the 1-1 first leg in Gothenburg last week, but the remainder of the first half saw the visitors less fluent, their cause not helped by losing the lively Nasiru Mohammed to a nasty injury.

On the resumption, Häcken enjoyed the better of the play but couldn’t pierce a defiant City rearguard and McNulty was easily able to deal with any of the shots from distance he was faced with. With 18 minutes left, Gearóid Morrissey had a great chance to make the game safe from Stephen Dooley’s pass, but Peter Abrahamsson denied him.

Häcken grew more urgent as the end neared, but Browne led a brilliant defensive effort from City and, while Abrahamsson did go up for late set-pieces, they came to nothing, the final whistle sparking wild celebrations.

CORK CITY: McNulty; McSweeney, Bennett, Browne, O'Connor; G Morrissey (Holohan 79), Bolger; Beattie, Buckley, Dooley; Maguire (O'Sullivan 90).

BK HÄCKEN: Abrahamsson; Andersson, Wahlstrom, Sudic, Arkivo; Abubakari, Gustafson, Schuller (Ericsson 64); Mohammed (Savage 45), Owoeri (Jeremjeff 74), Paulinho.

Referee: CM Taborda Xistra (Portugal).