Comfortable City crowned Champions after Harps win

By Donncha Noonan | Photo by Kevin Barry Dorney

It was the final home game of the 2026 season for Cork City, which meant it was trophy day at the Cross as City took on Finn Harps. This also came as Greg Bolger’s last game of his footballing career, as he looked to see his career off in style. He did so in style, as he captained his side to a nice 2-0 win at home for City to say goodbye to Turner’s Cross until February 2027. City awarded four awards before the game; Cillian Murphy picked up both the Men's Player of the Year and Men’s Young Player of the Year, whilst Holly O’Hagan grabbed the Women’s Young Player of the year and Eva Mangan secured the Women’s Player of the Year.

Barry Robson made four changes from his team that lost away in Athlone last week. Josh Fitzpatrick, David Odumosu, Luke Downey and Niall O’Keeffe dropped out, with Conor Brann, Hans Mpongo, Charlie Lyons and Cillian Murphy all coming in.

Patrick McEleney elected to go with three changes from his side’s home defeat to Kerry on Friday, with Darragh Coyle, Adam McDaid and Aaron McLaughlin all coming out of the side, being replaced by Josh Cullen, Max Hutchinson and Ronan Ferns.

City started the game strongly, and tested Harps keeper Corey Sheridan fifteen minutes in. Conor Drinan received the ball down the left hand side and dinked a quick ball down the channel to Hans Mpongo. He let the ball bounce before striking it across goal, forcing Sheridan into a full stretch save to keep the effort out.

It was only a matter of time before the hosts broke the deadlock, and they did so ten minutes later. It once again came from a lovely ball from Conor Drinan down the left channel for Hans Mpongo to latch onto. The Dutchman flashed the ball across goal, where Seani Maguire was on hand to turn it past Sheridan at his near post to earn City the lead.

The Leesiders were dominant so far, and should've doubled their lead in the thirty-fifth minute. A long diagonal ball from Fiacre Kelleher found Hans Mpongo in space down the left hand side. He pulled a ball towards the penalty spot, where the oncoming Cillian Murphy got onto it and side-footed an effort on goal that was somehow cleared off the line by Joel Bradley-Walsh.

City deserved to get a second, and they did on the stroke of half-time. Fiacre Kelleher chipped a lovely ball over the Finn Harps defence to release Ruairi Keating. He slid the ball across goal to his strike partner Seani Maguire, who made no mistake and tucked the ball home to give his team a two-goal cushion.

That was that for a first half where City were very much in control and cruising towards a win, in one of their best performances in the back half of this season.

The biggest moment of the night arrived in the sixty-fourth minute, as the number six went up for the last time of Greg Bolger’s career, as he received a standing ovation from all four corners of the Cross, saying a final goodbye to his illustrious League of Ireland career.

The hosts picked up right where they left off, with Seani coming close to a hat-trick just three minutes in. City broke on a counter with a Josh Fitzpatrick cross finding Seani Maguire at the back post,  but Seani’s header was pushed away by Sheridan to preserve the current scoreline.

That same link up came through again in the seventy-sixth minute as Maguire went searching for his third goal. Fitzpatrick’s low cross across the face of goal found Maguire bursting into the box, but the striker couldn't keep his shot down as it flew narrowly over the bar.

Harps have a chance with two minutes to play looking to halve the deficit.  Birdel Boskani received the ball on the right wing and cut inside looking to shoot, but his effort nestled straight into the arms of keeper Conor Brann.

And that was all for the match itself, where the celebrations then began in the Cross as City once again lifted the First Division trophy. It’s a sight that effectively signals the end to what has been a long season for City fans, hopefully one that we do not repeat for a long long time. We have to hope certain rumours don’t manifest themselves and that continuity can be kept, as that as well as good recruitment will be key for next season if we will have any chance at staying up. 

My Man of the Match goes to Seani Maguire. Naturally, when a player scores a brace they’ll most likely win this, and he deserves it. Maguire tormented the Harps defense all game long, and was the fulcrum of the City attack, being instrumental in many other chances that didn’t quite amount to a goal.

City have their final game of the season awaiting them next Friday, as they travel to playoff hopefuls Kerry FC. As for Harps, they return home to host Bray Wanderers.