Cork city bounced back to the top of the Premier Division when a controversial injury time penalty gave them a narrow win over Drogheda at United Park on Saturday night.

All hell broke loose three minutes into injury time when referee Brendan Barry pointed to the spot after John Cotter went down under a challenge from John Reid.

It certainly seemed like a harsh decision as Reid appeared to win the ball cleanly. But amid the confusion Kelvin Flanagan stepped up and calmly slotted the ball past Eddie Van Boxtel.

It was harsh on a plucky Drogheda side which belied their lowly status to turn in a gritty display which should have earned them at least their first point of the season.

They had much the better of the first half which saw five players receive yellow cards, the first of which went to United midfielder Martin Beggs following a stiff challenge on Mark Herrick.

Herrick was withdrawn concussed at the interval and spent the night in a local hospital as a precautionary measure.

Cork went ahead eight minutes after the break. Van Boxtell and John Carroll had done well to prevent Jason Kabia from getting off the mark but the ball broke to Ollie Cahill who made no mistake from 10 yards.

As the home side pressed forward in search of an equaliser, substitute Noel Reid and Ian Gilzean came close with the latter flashing a header off a post with City goalkeeper Phil Harrington beaten on the 80 minute mark.

But they were duly rewarded four minutes later when Reid got on the end of a Dixie Nugent cross to score off the underside of the crossbar from six yards to set up a tense finish.