Shamrock Rovers 0 Cork City 0
Pat Fenlon had said during this week that with added competition at the top of the table it might take fewer points to lift this year's title. On the evidence of this, City might play a part in tightening things up too with John Caulfield's side successfully frustrating a Shamrock Rovers side that had almost all of the better chances and leaving, happy it seemed, that their unbeaten record is still intact.
Rovers, with Michael Drennan in for the injured Danny North, edged things for the most part and will be disappointed that they didn’t take at least one of their chances but City were scarcely on the rack at any stage and Mark McNulty never really had to make a save of note.
City, having gone with more of their internationals from the outset, probably made the brighter start and certainly created the first really good opening when Dave Webster misjudged a Ross Gaynor ball down the left and Karl Sheppard nipped in for a left footed shot from a very tight angle when perhaps he would have been better off trying to pick out Garry Buckley in the centre. As it turned out, it wasn't an opportunity the striker would get again for he was left to fend for himself through most of the evening, at least until Mark O'Sullivan replaced Kieran Djilali and the former Rovers striker dropped out wide on the left.
It was, in any case, a bit of a let off for the locals but as they steadily gained the upper hand over the course of the half, City were to benefit from one or two of those lapses too.
The southerners got plenty of men behind the ball but some their actual defending was rudimentary enough with Darren Dennehy, in particular, happy to swipe at things, it seemed, and send the ball flying into any part of the stand.
For the most part, though, it was effective and it was only when Rovers began to tidy up their approach work that things started to happen for them in or around the City box.
Pat Cregg, preferred to Stephen McPhail by manager Pat Fenlon, did go close with a mid-range effort that came almost out of nothing but just cleared the left hand angle after leaving Mark McNulty looking stranded.
Having forced a half decent reaction stop from the goalkeeper, though, Drennan saw his close rage header come crashing off the crossbar after Gavin Brennan had neatly dispossessed Gaynor, he and Cregg and switched play and Marty Waters had picked the young striker out in the middle.
Gary McCabe was at the heart of things as Rovers continued to press forward after the break but City began to steady themselves in midfield too and Djilali sent Sheppard into space a couple of times and Billy Dennehy started to at least threaten to start posing an attacking threat.
Around the centre of the pitch, where much of the pre-match hype was focussed, it was tame enough stuff with none of the bigger names really able to make a decisive impact.
Alan Bennett’s challenge on Drennan after the striker had been sent racing clear was about as big a moment as the second half produced although McCabe went close at one point and Conor Kenna’s did well to block a Sheppard effort after a prolonged bout of uncertainty around the home side’s area.
In the end, neither side seemed overly put out by the loss of the two points. John Caulfield and co. would surely have taken the one more readily beforehand and looked happy enough to settle for it for decent stretches of the game but this is already more than the Dubliners managed against City when the Turner's Cross outfit were chasing top spot in 2014 and Rovers provided further evidence here that they have more depth and quality with which to mount a serious assault on the title themselves this year.
Shamrock Rovers:Hyland; Madden, Webster, Kenna, D O’Connor; Fahey (McPhail, 72 mins), Cregg; G Brennan, McCabe, Waters (S O’Connor, 72 mins); Drennan (McCaffrey, 84 mins).
Cork City: McNulty; Dunleavy, Bennett, D Dennehy, Gaynor; Healy, Miller; Djilali (O’Sullivan, 65 mins),
Buckley (Holohan, 75 mins), B Dennehy (Morrissey, 80 mins); Sheppard.
Referee: N Doyle (Dublin).
