Cork City are through to the quarter finals of the Irish Daily Mail FAI Senior Cup as they defeated Maynooth University Town 4-0 at Turner’s Cross on Friday evening. Goals from Aaron Barry, Kieran Sadlier, Josh O’Hanlon from the penalty spot and Ron
Cork City are through to the quarter finals of the Irish Daily Mail FAI Senior Cup as they defeated Maynooth University Town 4-0 at Turner’s Cross on Friday evening.
Goals from Aaron Barry, Kieran Sadlier, Josh O’Hanlon from the penalty spot and Ronan Coughlan was enough to see the FAI Cup holders for the last two seasons safely through.
John Caulfield made ten changes to the side that was held to a 1-1 draw by St Patrick’s Athletic on Sunday evening with Kieran Sadlier the only survivor but they named an unchanged team to the one that beat Home Farm 5-1 in the first round of this competition.
And Sadlier ought to have fired his side in front just shy of the quarter of an hour mark but he couldn’t sort out his feet and his scuffed effort from Josh O’Hanlon’s pullback was cleared by the Town’s defence.
Maynooth reached this stage of the tournament following a 2-0 home win against local Cork side Leeds 12 days previous.
They had their first shot in anger after 22 minutes but Darragh Reynor’s ambitious lob from distance sailed harmlessly over the target.
Gearoid Morrissey was caught in possession on the edge of his own area moments later but he was relieved to see Daniel Burke drive the loose ball over the crossbar.
City quickly regrouped and they took the lead in the 29th when Aaron Barry headed home Barry McNamee’s corner at the back post for his first goal for the club.
The Double winners, who haven’t lost a game in this competition since they were beaten 2-1 by Dundalk after extra time in the 2015 final, finished the half strongly but they failed to add to their lead before the interval.
Barry McNamee was denied by a terrific save from David Sterio shortly before the visiting number one also tipped Morrissey’s powerful strike over at his near post.
Cork started the second period brightly and the majority of the 1,016 in attendance could finally rest easy as Kieran Sadlier doubled the host’s advantage, drilling the ball into the bottom right corner from the edge of the area.
It was now just a matter of how many goals the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division side would get against their non-league opponents.
And they duly made it 3-0 in the 64th minute as they were awarded a penalty as Josh O’Hanlon was brought down inside the box by Shane Harte after combining cleverly with Sadlier.
O’Hanlon dusted himself down before coolly slotting the ball into the bottom right corner, sending the keeper the wrong way in the process.
Caulfield took the opportunity to give some of his younger players an opportunity for the closing stages of the match and the club’s under 19 defender Ronan Hurley created the fourth with Ronan Coughlan the scorer as he tucked in the cross at the near post to complete the rout.
