SETANTA CUP FINAL - CORK CITY 2 GLENTORAN 1:THIS WAS the first time Glentoran had ventured so far south to play and to lose a game they led must have made the long journey home to east Belfast yesterday that little bit harder to endure, writes Emmet Maloneat Turner's Cross.
Still, for all the pre-match rancour over the venue and ticket allocations Saturday's final went off well. City won thanks to a strong second-half showing that yielded goals by Dan Murray and Liam Kearney but the Northerners held their own early on thanks to a fiercely competitive attitude.
For a while it even seemed possible Kyle Neill's early goal might win them the title. Keeping City at bay in the second half, though, was beyond them and having hit levelled through their skipper shortly after the break the hosts were dominant by the end.
"We were 45 minutes away from a fairytale," said Glentoran boss Alan McDonald afterwards. "For 45 minutes, I didn't think there was an awful lot in it, but, overall, if you ask me did the better side win then I'd have to say yes; they probably they did. They shaded the game but they had to do it the hard way and I'm proud of my players."
Glentoran made life uncomfortable for their hosts early on with the City players rarely allowed to settle on the ball. Even when given the opportunity to play in the first half, however, they had so many misplaced passes and miss-hit set-pieces that their only real complaint at the interval was the free which led to Neill's goal shouldn't have been given against Murray.
When they came out for the second half, though, Cork were more composed. Murray's equaliser came from a nicely weighted Danny Murphy corner and from the moment it went in it was hard to see how McDonald's men were going to score again.
"We had a chat at half-time," said Cork manager Alan Mathews afterwards, "no throwing the head but some composed discussion and we played much better in the second half, passed the ball and got width into our play. We kept them in their half. We felt if we could get a goal then we would be good enough to win."
City should have won by more with Denis Behan, Lawrie Dudfield and Darren Murphy all going close to scoring. Eventually it was Kearney who grabbed the winner with a close-range header after Alan O'Connor's angled cross had been headed down and Dudfield had failed to get the required touch. The goal was a fitting reward for his efforts but he had to be replaced minutes from time after a couple of hefty challenges from opponents whose frustration at being outplayed threatened to get the better of them.
Having dished out a few yellow cards early on, referee Ian Stokes grew more cautious in his use of them in the second half. It was off the pitch that things boiled over, with Kearney struck in the face by a missile as he passed a section of the Glentoran support that had been threatening to cause problems all night. "I know it was a large object that hit me square in the face," he said afterwards. "It was a good belt, I was just after getting a cut on my nose and I was going off. I was even saying to the ref maybe I should go on the other side because I don't want to cause trouble here. I was saying to him; 'Just let me go over the other side because I'll be aggravating the crowd', but I suppose the rules are that you go that side."
Murray was savouring a victory he feels underlines the character of a squad that has had so much to put up this season. "When all the examinership stuff started, I think we were unfortunate to lose a good few players but the lads who stayed said we'd stick together because we believed we still had the quality to win something."
The victory means City are guaranteed a place in next year's competition, which Mathews strongly suggested might include some Scottish sides, although the leading Northern clubs are expected to push for changes to the way the event is organised - a wish list likely to include the removal of Milo Corcoran from his central role - before they confirm their continued involvement.
More pressing for Cork is the need to secure European football, a cause that would be significantly advanced if, as expected, Drogheda United are docked 10 points tonight for following their rivals into examinership and the southerners can beat St Patrick's Athletic and Sligo Rovers this week. "This win has to be a springboard," concluded Mathews, "not just the finale to a difficult year."
CORK CITY:McNulty; Horgan, Sullivan, Murray, Danny Murphy; O'Connor, Darren Murphy, Gamble, Kearney (Ryan, 91 mins); Dudfield, Behan.
GLENTORAN:Morris; Nixon, Simpson, Ward, Taylor; Scullion (Waterworth, 63 mins), Fordyce (Fitzgerald, 77 mins), McCabe, Neill; Hamilton, Halliday (McGovern, 70 mins).
Referee:I Stokes (Dublin).
