An all-City stalemate in the Brandywell

📷 KBD Photos

After their first win since April, Ger Nash’s Cork City travelled to the Brandywell and continued their good form by holding Derry to a 0-0 draw. It was a well fought for result by the visitors and it was some very hearty and stubborn defending that led the Leesiders to a positive result.

Ger Nash made just one change to the side who beat Galway at the Cross, with the injured Fiacre Kelleher dropping out and being replaced by Freddie Anderson.

Tiernan Lynch made two changes to the lineup that lost 2-0 in Tallaght last tine out, with Akinyemi and Bannon dropping out for Cann and Whyte.

City showed their cards early as they sat in and aimed to soak up pressure before hitting Derry on the counter, and their aims almost came to fruition after twelve minutes. A long ball over the right hand side of Derry defence released Seani Maguire. The striker allowed the ball to bounce in front of him before volleying the ball towards goal, but Brian Maher dove and held his shot well.

Derry were struggling to break down a stubborn City backline, but they finally had their first chance of the game twenty five minutes in. Good link up between Fleming and Whyte down the left hand side allowed the latter to cut in and send an inswinging cross towards the back post. The cross hit the arriving Adam O’Reilly but the Corkman’s header narrowly missed the target.

The hosts continued their pressure and called on their main outlet to try his luck two minutes later. A Conor Brann goal kick was caught in the strong wind and landed on the head of Derry striker Liam Boyce. He nodded it to his left where it was picked up by Michael Duffy, who jinked on the edge of the box before cutting in and wrapping a shot narrowly over the bar.

Derry were very frustrated by the City backline and could only create one more chance on the stroke of half time. Fleming and Duffy worked brilliantly down the left hand side with Duffy picking the ball up in the box. The winger cut inside and took aim but his low shot wasn’t troubling for Conor Brann.

That was all the action of the first half as a very dull game was scoreless.

The second half didn't get much better as the visitors were very happy to sit and keep the uninspired Derry team at bay. Only one real chance to note in the second half and it went Derry’s way in the sixty fifth minute. Adam O’Reilly picked the ball up deep down the right hand side He managed to poke the ball to Gavin Whyte at the edge of the box, who cut inside and whipped an effort towards goal with his left foot, but his shot took a slight deflection off Dipo Akinyemi to send what would've been a goalbound shot just wide of the post.

And so that was that and the game ended as a goalless draw, a score that didn't completely suit either side. City sat deep the whole game and soaked up the very casual pressure that Derry put on them. The Derry attack was very blunt for the large majority of the game and bar the odd run by Michael Duffy, seemed unlikely to grab a goal. On the face of it, City going to Derry and keeping a clean sheet while getting a point seems like a good result, but the gap to ninth means that draws do very little other than grow confidence. A win in the cup however could add to this result and give us huge momentum into what will be a desperately vital run-in to keep this team up.

My Man of the Match goes to City’s Rory Feely. As I've said already, City’s defensive tenacity was the main takeaway from this game, and the sergeant of that was Rory Feely. It was his best performance in a City shirt since being bought from Crawley and he was an absolute stalwart at the back all game long, keeping Liam Boyce and then Dipo Akinyemi quiet.

It’s cup week now for both teams, with Cork CIty hosting Waterford at the Cross on Friday, and Derry hosting Drogheda in the Brandywell the following day.