City held at the cross in return to the top flight

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League of Ireland football is finally back. After a gruellingly long offseason, Cork City returned to action to face off against a few familiar faces at the Cross. City were looking to get off to a good start against Galway United in a season where they’re looking to return to being a mainstay in the Premier Division.

Tim Clancy made just one change from the side that fell out of the Munster Senior Cup at the hands of Cobh Ramblers after a 2-1 loss in St Colmans Park. Kitt Nelson dropped to the bench and was replaced by Malik Dijksteel, with the Dutchman returning from injury to take a place in the starting eleven. As for Galway, there were a few familiar faces in the opposition ranks as Jimmy Keohane, Rob Slevin and of course, manager John Caulfield returned to the cross. Galway were fresh off a superb return to the top flight, having come fifth last season and looking to go one step further and qualify for europe.

The game got off to a flying start with the hosts coming agonisingly close to taking the lead ten seconds in. Kick off went back to Greg Bolger, who rolled it right to Darragh Crowley. Crowley sent a long ball forward, which was brilliantly cushioned on the run by Malik Dijksteel who ran through on goal. His effort sent Brendan Clarke the wrong way, but he saw his shot come crashing off the outside of the post to deny City the lead.

City were dominating the opening minutes and came close again. Galway failed to deal with a high ball which landed on the edge of their box. It was picked up by Seani Maguire who shifted his body and let a shot away which forced Brendan Clarke into a good low stop to keep the game level.

City continued to dominate the half but just couldn't make the breakthrough. That was, until the thirty-fifth minute. Rio Shipston’s corner was headed away and picked up by Greg Bolger. He passed it out left back to Shipston who slipped it to Malik Dijksteel on the edge of the left side of the box. Dijksteel shifted it onto his right foot and curled a brilliant shot into the bottom left corner to give the Rebel Army a much deserved lead.

The home side had all the momentum, but that momentum was killed on the stroke of halftime. Brendan Clarke sent a long ball forward which was flicked on by Patrick Hickey. Stephen Walsh chased it down and played it out right to Jeannot Esua. Esua swung in a brilliant cross which was met by the head of Patrick Hickey, who buried his header to level the game up.

Both teams went into halftime at a deadlock, despite City’s dominance in the half. Galway will have felt extremely lucky to have gone in at the break with a draw as City could easily have been two or three up.

The second half started fairly cagily, but it was the hosts who once again struck the next blow in the fifty-first minute. City swung in a free kick that was nodded across at the back post by Malik Dijksteel. Rob Slevin got a toe on it to poke it away, but it rolled towards Greg Bolger who hit it first time and fired a shot into the bottom right corner from the edge of the box to retake the lead.

City didn't quite hold the same grip on the game as they did in the first half but were able to fend off the onslaught of high balls and crosses that John Caulfield’s side threw at them.

Galway did come close however with half an hour to go. Bobby Burns sent in a dangerous cross that City failed to deal with. The ball fell to Moses Dyer in the box, who hit a powerful shot goal bound on the turn, but Greg Bolger got in front and got a hugely important touch on it to send it out for a corner.

Galway’s persistence eventually paid off with nine minutes to play. Jimmy Keohane sent in a corner that was headed away by City, which found Burns at the edge of the box. Burns hit an awkward shot which came down off the face of Vincent Borden, who then took a touch and hit a shot from inside the box on the swivel and found the bottom right corner to get the visitors their equaliser.

City responded immediately and came so close to finding the winner. Kitt Nelson worked well down the left wing before laying it back to Benny Couto. Couto got to the byline and dinked a cross in towards the back post, where it met the head of Seani Maguire, who couldn't quite keep his header down and headed it just over the bar.

Neither team could find a winner in the final stages of the game, so both sides came away with a point in the opening weekend of the League of Ireland season. 

City played quite well in my opinion and deserved to get three points from the game, and probably should've been out of sight after the first half, but they just couldn't take some of the chances they created, something that will likely come in time as the side get used to playing with each other in the Premier Division. They did what a lot of teams failed to do last year against this Galway side and were quite effective in breaking down their backline and creating many goal scoring opportunities. The City defense did well for parts of the game but sometimes struggled to deal with Galways onslaught in the second half. To be fair to City, the referee did them absolutely no favours throughout the game and was generally quite poor in my opinion.

As for Galway, they seemed quite a bit worse than they were at times last season. They set up as expected and were very compact and used high and long balls as the majority of their attacking outlets. Despite their known defensive qualities, they struggled at times, especially in the first half, to contain the attacks that City had, particularly in the second half. They did manage to get through City’s defence quite a few times during the game and were able to get a signature headed goal from Patrick Hickey, and Vince Borden proved to be a good substitution from John Caulfield as he scrapped to get their equaliser.

My Man of the Match goes to Greg Bolger. Despite some questions over how he'd handle a now very physically demanding Premier Division, Greg Bolger played ten years younger than his age in midfield, as he essentially ran the game for the majority of the ninety minutes. He fought heartily and played some brilliant passes throughout the game. He partnered Rio Shipston very well and scored a brilliant strike that earned his team a point.

City will be looking to continue their positive start to the season in a trip to Tallaght Stadium next Sunday to take on Shamrock Rovers at 6pm. As for Galway, they’ll return to Eamonn Deacy Park for the first time this season, as they'll host St. Patricks Athletic on Friday night.