Cork City 3 Bray Wanderers 0Cork City overwhelmed Bray Wanderers in their Premier Division encounter at Turner's Cross last night in the absence of manager Damien Richardson.
Richardson, who is 58, was taken ill in the hours before the game and was detained in hospital for tests when the medical people detected a problem with one of his lungs.
A bulletin from Cork suggested he is unlikely to travel to Prague for Cork's Uefa Cup tie against Slavia Prague on Thursday.
In his absence Dave Hill, the assistant manager, took charge and it was clear from Cork's attitude from the kick-off he did not need to spend too much time motivating his team.
Cork played some very attractive football at a great tempo and Bray struggled to contain them as they set up a succession of scoring chances.
Bray goalkeeper Chris O'Connor twice had to make superb saves to deny John O'Flynn before the Cork striker finally beat him on 20 minutes. O'Connor advanced to the edge of his penalty area to collect a long ball out of defence by Danny Murphy but he was left stranded when O'Flynn just beat him to possession before turning the ball into the net from a narrow angle.
Again O'Connor reacted smartly to deny O'Flynn as he ran clear on to a headed pass from Derek Coughlan in the 30th minute but he was beaten again three minutes later.
It was Coughlan who shot past him after a corner on the right from Liam Kearney led to a period of intense pressure on the struggling Bray defence.
Cork fans added a new chant to their repertoire to mark the presence of the TG4 cameras in the ground and they spontaneously "Cathair Chorcaí" to the same beat they regularly employ for "The Rebel Army".
The team responded with a performance that was calculated to send them into European competition in confident mood.
Bray rang the changes at half-time with Stephen Fox moving to centre forward to dispute the aerial possession with Cork's commanding centre backs and Andrei Georgescu switched to the right wing.
They were more effective second half and Murphy had to make a timely interception to smother a shot from Georgescu in the 59th minute.
Most of the action took place at the other end, however, and after goalkeeper Chris O'Connor had made another outstanding save, this time from Kearney, Cork stretched their lead to three. Roy O'Donovan ran clear onto a headed pass from Danny Murray to guide the ball into the goal.
CORK CITY: Devine; Horgan, Coughlan, Murray, Murphy; O'Donovan, Gamble, O'Callaghan, Kearney; O'Flynn, Behan. Subs: Bruton for O'Flynn (82 mins), Fenn for Behan (82 mins).
BRAY WANDERERS: O'Connor; Gifford, Roche, McGovern (Ryan 65), O'Reilly; James, Kevin O'Brien, Fox, Tyrell (Murphy 75); Georgescu, K O'Brien (Long 82). Subs: Ryan for McGovern (65 mins), Murphy for Tyrell (75 mins), Long for O'Brien (82 mins).
Referee: D Hancock (Dublin).
