"We mugged them and put the mugged in capital letters." Honest words indeed from Cork City manager Derek Mountfield in the aftermath of his side's 1-0 win over a battling Finn Harps at Turner's Cross yesterday.

City took the full points thanks to a penalty decision after only four minutes when Pat Morley converted after Gavin Dykes was harshly adjudged to have handled a Greg O'Halloran flick-on but the Cork manager was brave enough not to hide from the truth.

"We mugged them and I have told Gavin (Dykes) as much. Our performance was very poor but I will gladly take the three points because this was a must win for us," said Mountfield.

Morley coolly kept his head when tucking the penalty to the back of the net but that was about it when it came to attacking options for the rest of the game for City.

They invited Finn Harps onto them for the remainder of the game and the Donegal side duly obliged with only the brilliance of Michael Devine in the Cork goal keeping them at bay. Twice Devine went to ground to deny John Kenny when the Harps' striker was through on goal.

CORK CITY: Devine; Horgan, O'Donoghue, Daly, Coughlan; O'Halloran, Cahill, Gaughan, Herrick; Morley, Mulligan. Subs: O'Brien for Gaughan (54 mins), Napier for O'Halloran (71 mins), Caulfield for Cahill (90 mins).

FINN HARPS: Downey; R Kenny, Minnock, Fitzhenry, Dykes; McGranaghan, Mohan, Tierney, Bonnar; Nesouie, J Kenny. Subs: Harkin for Mohan (half-time), Kelly for Bonnar (71 mins), Speak for R Kenny (82 mins).

Referee: J O'Neill (Waterford).

Having failed to take points in their last two games against Shamrock Rovers and Longford, Derry City arrested the slide at the Brandywell on Saturday night when they shared the spoils 1-1 with Bray Wanderers.

Liam Coyle broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute and Bray equalised with a controversial second-half Colm Tresson penalty.