Finn Harps twice took the lead in the first half courtesy of goals from Caolon McAleer and Mark Coyle but were pegged back twice by the visitors with Conor McCarthy and Gearoid Morrissey netting. Morrissey netted again to give Cork the lead for the
Finn Harps twice took the lead in the first half courtesy of goals from Caolon McAleer and Mark Coyle but were pegged back twice by the visitors with Conor McCarthy and Gearoid Morrissey netting.
Morrissey netted again to give Cork the lead for the first time in the game before Graham Cummins doubled the advantage and Veteran Raff Cretaro set up a tense finish as Cork rise up to sixth in the table while Finn Harps search for a first win goes on.
Finn Harps got off to the perfect start, taking the lead inside 90 seconds. Caolon McAleer raced onto a long ball forward from Daniel O'Reilly having beaten the offside trap and with Mark McNulty rushing off his line to narrow the angle, McAleer coolly slotted past the shot stopper.
Both teams were evenly matched and on the quarter hour, Cork levelled. Shane Griffin whipped in a corner from the right side and after a slight touch at the near post, Conor McCarthy was on hand to head home.
Mark Coyle had tested his luck from range on a number of occasions throughout the first half, twice stinging the hands of McNulty in goal and the midfielder finished off a well worked move on 37 minutes to give Harps the lead for the second time.
After passing to Sean Boyd in the area, the Shamrock Rovers loanee saw a shot blocked, it fell to Raff Cretaro on the edge of the penalty box, he found McAleer on the right who whipped it in across goal for Coyle to finish off with a low header.
It looked as though the hosts would take the lead into the interval but Gearoid Morrissey had other ideas, firing home a dipping half volley from the edge of the area following a long throw in from the right side.
Cork City were on the front foot after the restart and after a few half chances, took a deserved lead on 57 minutes in some style, with Morrissey grabbing a brace with a fine curling effort from the edge of the area into the top left corner.
Cork proceeded to control things in many areas of the field and doubled their lead with twenty minutes to go, with Substitute Graham Cummins nodding home a Griffin corner.
That looked to be enough to seal the points but the hosts ensured a grandstand finish to the encounter, after Raff Cretaro fired home a low driven effort inside the area.
Harps had a lot of the ball in the dying embers of the match but Cork City held on for their second win of the season which boosts them up to seven points.
Harps stay at the wrong end of the table on two points.
