Dundalk 4-0 Waterford
Dundalk produced their best display of the season to sweep Waterford aside at Oriel Park and move into third place in the table.
Despite missing a host of first-choice players, Vinny Perth’s side went in front after just eight minutes when Patrick Hoban met Sean Murray’s fine cross to head past Hugo Keto.
The excellent Jamie McGrath had the ball in the Blues net again six minutes later but the celebrations were cut short by referee Rob Harvey who blew for a hand ball in the build-up.
Waterford struggled to make inroads but Zak Elbouzedi tested Gary Rogers after cutting in from the right and they had an even better opportunity five minutes later, but Aaron Drinan failed to convert Kevin Lynch’s cutback.
Dundalk punished them a minute later. Jordan Flores saw his cross half cleared and Murray found the bottom corner of the net with a crisp finish from 18 yards.
The visitors almost clawed their way back into it early in the second half but Drinan’s powerful long-range effort was brilliantly saved by Rogers.
The result was put beyond doubt in the 57th minute when McGrath sent Daniel Kelly clear and the winger made no mistake before substitute Cameron Dummigan added a fourth in the dying stages.
Dundalk: Rogers; Gannon, Gartland, Cleary, Massey; Hoare, Murray; Kelly (McKee 79), McGrath, Flores (Dummigan 76); Hoban (G Kelly 85).
Waterford: Keto; Feely, Kouogun, Delaney, Lynch; Duggan (Galvin 63), Hery, Lunney; Drinan (Walsh 73), Akinade (Twine 63), Elbouzedi.
Bohemians 1 Derry City 1
Central defender James Finnerty’s first goal for Bohemians gave a them a fully-deserved equaliser as goalkeeper Peter Cherrie excelled to earn Derry City a point at Dalymount Park.
Despite his side’s purposeful start in front of watching Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy, it was Derry’s Cherrie who was the first goalkeeper to see action with a sublime save at full stretch from a Keith Ward free-kick seven minutes in.
With that the highlight of a dour first half, the second period thankfully brought a goal seven minutes in as Derry took the lead.
Eoin Toal and Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe worked the ball up to former Bohemian Eoghan Stokes who was clumsily bumped over by Gypsies’ captain Derek Pender.
Stokes gleefully powered his spot kick to the bottom corner of the net, sending James Talbot the wrong way as the Bohemians keeper was beaten for the first time this season.
Cherrie kept Derry ahead on 66 minutes, brilliantly batting away a close range shot from Ali Reghba.
But the Derry keeper was beaten 10 minutes later. Ward’s ball into the area found Finnerty, with the 20-year-old cleverly sweeping it past Cherrie to the net.
Bohemians: Talbot; Pender, Cornwall, Finnerty, Leahy; Levingston, Allardice (McCourt, 56); Wade-Slater (Grant, 62), Mandroiu, Ward; Reghba (Byrne ,75).
Derry City: Cherrie; McDermott, Toal, Gilchrist, Coll; Cole, Bruna (McNamee, 79); Stokes (Seraf, 87), Harkin, Delap (Kerr, 90+3); Ogedi-Uzokwe.
Referee: Tomas Connolly (Dublin).
Attendance: 2,940
Finn Harps 3 Cork City 4
Cork City won a seven-goal thriller in testing conditions in Ballybofey despite falling behind twice.
Harps got off to a dream start as Caolan McAleer surged through Cork’s defence and confidently placed the ball past the advancing Mark McNulty with less than two minutes on the clock.
City drew level on 15 minutes as Harps failed to clear a corner and Conor McCarthy rose to head relatively unchallenged past Gallagher.
The Donegal side then restored their lead on 36 minutes as Mark Coyle headed home a McAleer cross just moments after a Sean Boyd shot was blocked following a fine passage of play. But City were back on level terms in the 44th minute as Harps lost possession and Gearoid Morrissey capitalised with a super dipping shot from outside the box.
The Leesiders deservedly took the lead on 57 minutes as Morrissey let fly with a swerving effort from outside the box that left Gallagher with no chance.
On 70 minutes substitute Graham Cummins headed in a Griffin corner as the visitors looked to be home and dry.
But veteran Raffaele Cretaro then struck with a super drive from inside the box on 80 minutes to reduce the arrears to 4-3.
Finn Harps: Gallagher; Borg, Cowan, Todd; Deasy (McNamee, 73 mins), Ascroft, Cretaro, Coyle, O'Reilly; McAleer, Boyd (Boyle, 63 mins).
Cork City: McNulty; Horgan, Casey, McCarthy, Griffin; Morrissey, Buckley, McCormack; O'Connor (Rainsford, 79 mins), Sheppard (Comerford, 90 mins), Smith (Cummins, half-time).
Referee: Mr. Damien McGrath (Dublin).
