Cork City 0 Dundalk 1 (After extra time)

If Dundalk have been the dominant force in Irish football in 2015 then Richie Towell has been the dominant force in Dundalk. Here, after being given a rough ride by a determined Cork City side, both eventually asserted themselves once again with the midfielder’s goal in extra-time only copper-fastening his status as the league’s best player while the completed double put his side’s top dog status beyond any doubt too.

City deserve tremendous credit for the way in which they took this game to the league champions but ultimately they could not capitalise on any of the chances that they created through their best spells. The energy expended through the opening hour by John Caulfield’s men clearly had the desired effect with Dundalk struggling to achieve anything like their normal slickness but the effort of it all gradually took its toll and as the second half wore on the warning signs were there for the southerners, not least in the growing influence of Daryl Horgan whose darting runs down the left flank and into the area, became an increasingly regular feature.

Ultimately, the run that led to the game’s decisive moment came a couple of minutes into the second period of extra-time with neither Garry Buckley nor John Dunleavy able to halt the progress of the midfielder who then pulled the ball back to the edge of the six yard box where Towell coolly took a touch to control, picked his spot and then slipped his shot home. Almost incredibly, it was the 29th goals of the season for the 24 year-old who ostensibly playing in a deep lying midfield role.

In the time they had left, Cork through everything they had into the search from an equaliser and a Horgan howler as Dundalk sought to clear a corner gave them their best chance but Darren Dennehy’s close range header clipped the top of the crossbar and Stephen Kenny’s men did enough after that to see the game out.

It was a dramatic conclusion to a contest that had been fast and furious throughout. Dundalk never produced anything like their best football but then City will claim with some justification that they simply weren’t allowed to, at least from the point early on when they started to find their own stride.

Briefly, before that, it had seemed as though Kenny’s men might dominate this game in much the same way as they had the title race but having been just a little slow out of the blocks, City began to set the tempo against a side who almost always force their opponents to play at their pace.

Through the opening minutes, Towell and Horgan had looked as though they were gearing up for a show stealing afternoon but such was City’s success a closing Dundalk down that the pair found it increasingly difficult to exert a significant influence until well into the second half when things finally begam to open up before them..

Cork, for their part, took the game to the league champions in the most emphatic manner, depriving them of time or space even well within their own half and exerting sufficient pressure to force the favourites into mistakes and fouls that yielded a steady supply of set pieces around the Gary Rogers’ area.

For all of that, though, the goalkeeper was rarely tested really with a fluffed attempt to meet a Billy Dennehy corner fairly early on as close as he came really to being landed in big trouble. On that occasion, the ball reached Darren Dennehy at the far post but the danger was smothered through sheer weight of numbers. On most of the others occasions he might have been tested, City missed the target with Garry Buckley not quite getting to grips with an attempt from almost half-way to catch the 34 year-old off his line while Karl Sheppard headed a Dunleavy corner narrowly wide and Billy Dennehy missed the target too with a free from 25 metres.

If the finishing wasn’t great, the pace of the game was certainly exhilarating. Dundalk continually tried to pass their way out of trouble and up the pitch but they consistently found it difficult to pull off and it wasn’t until early in the second half that the team’s midfield started to have any success with its attempts to release David McMillan into space.

The striker’s first chance after the break followed some really fine work by Dane Massey down the left but the striker did well to control the full-back’s pass then pick his spot after which Mark McNulty did just as well to turn the shot over.

Moments later, the striker raced clear again after City twice surrendered possession in the middle of the pitch and this time Alan Bennett, whose fine performance at the heart of the City defence earned him the official Man of the match award, applied just enough pressure to prevent him a clear goal-scoring opportunity although had McMillan gone down as the defender’s hand lay on his shoulder he may well have had earned his side a penalty.

Had Dundalk taken the lead at that point, City might well have found a way back into it but as it was the momentum slowly but surely switched to Dundalk who began to show glimpses of the passing game that left everyone trailing behind them in the title race.

For Towell,  this could yet be something of a farewell present to the fans. If so, then how Kenny and co cope with his departure will go along way to influencing the extent to which they write themselves into the Irish game’s history books.  For the moment, though, they are well on course to being marked down as one of greats and despite the inevitable pain, City can take some pride at how far they pushed them here.

Cork City: McNulty, Dunleavy, Bennett, D Dennehy, Gaynor; Miller (Healy, 60 mins) , O'Connor; B Dennehy, Buckley, Sheppard (Murray, 101 mins); O'Sullivan (Morrissey, 80 mins).

Dundalk: Rogers; Gannon (O'Donnell, 43 mins), Gartland, Boyle, Massey; Shields, Towell; Meenan (Mountney, 78 mins), Finn, Horgan; McMillan (Kilduff, 71 mins).

Referee: D McKeon (Dublin).