Finn Harps suffered a third straight League defeat as runaway Premier Division leaders Cork City opened up a 14-point lead at the top of the table.
Cork City 5 Finn Harps 0
Harps trailed to Stephen Dooley’s opener in the first half and s deadly brace by Sean Maguire – tipped for a move to England and an Irish senior international call-up this summer – helped Cork canter in the second half.
Late in the game, Cork scored three times in the final 11 minutes with Ryan Delaney, Gearoid Morrissey and Maguire all on the scoresheet for the rampant Rebels.
Cork have now won all 12 of their League games this season and the side captained by boyhood Harps fan and Ballybofey native Johnny Dunleavy are storming their way at the summit.
[adrotate group=”91″]The end result might have been a tad harsh on Harps, who have now lost five of their last six games.
Maguire’s penalty in the 89th minute put a gloss on the scorline, but Morrissey’s lob and Delaney’s header had already given Cork a big lead by then.
Cork hit the front on 22 minutes. Sean Maguire and Jimmy Keohane made the chance, after Ciaran Gallagher, the Harps ‘keeper, palmed away a corner.
Keohane off-loaded to Dooley and the former Derry City player had plenty to do when he picked up possession.
But Dooley glided beyond a couple of Harps players before blasting home from the edge of the box, beating Gallagher low to the bottom corner.
Just three minutes later, a wonderful save by Gallagher prevented Gearoid Morrissey from doubling the lead. The Harps stopper superbly turned around the post when Morrissey looked set to find the top shelf.
Cork began with Keohane volleying wide of the area, before Caolan McAleer shot wide at the other end.
Cork have had a sizzling start to 2017 and entered this one having had a clean sweep of 11 wins from their opening 11 games and John Caulfield’s side with a perfect 15-from-15 in all competitions.
Keohane took the place of Greg Bolger in the sole change to the Rebels’ line-up from last week’s 2-1 win over Bray and Cork always seemed in command.
The Harps cupboard is pretty bare these days and Ollie Horgan had only 15 players named on the squad tonight.
The suspended Barry Molloy, sent off in last weekend’s 2-0 loss to Bohemians at Dalymount Park, was replaced by the returning Michael Funston, but Eddie Dsane’s back injury meant that he was unavailable to travel, leaving Harps with just three subs.
Harps were as far out as 18/1 outsiders for this, but the Donegal side battled well and Sean Houston forced a save from Mark McNulty, the Cork ‘keeper going down to his left to save from Houston’s daisy-cutter.
Earlier, Horgan had been left fuming on the sideline when McAleer went down in the area, but Neil Doyle turned down the penalty appeals.
Dooley and Keohane both flashed off target before Gallagher denied Keohane with another smart save.
Karl Sheppard thought that he’d doubled the lead, but his celebrations were cut shot by an offside flag, but Maguire wasn’t to be denied three minutes later.
Sheppard had one cleared off the line by Gareth Harkin after beating Gallagher, but Morrissey fired home on 79 minutes and Cork were already well on their way to stretching a lead that already has the appearance of being unassailable.
Cork City: Mark McNulty; Steven Beattie, John Dunleavy, Ryan Delaney, Kevin O’Connor; Karl Sheppard (Shane Griffin 82), Gearoid Morrissey, Jimmy Keohane (Connor Ellis 64), Conor McCormack (Greg Bolger 71), Stephen Dooley; Sean Maguire.
Finn Harps: Ciaran Gallagher; Damien McNulty, Kilian Cantwell, Ciaran Coll, Gareth Harkin; Michael Funston, Ethan Boyle, Sean Houston, Caolan McAleer; Paddy McCourt (Gareth Doherty 89), Ciaran O’Connor (Simon McGlynn 81).
Referee: Neil Doyle.
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