It was a busy weekend of cup action with three quarter-finals played in the Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup and two games in the second round of the Irn Bru Scottish Challenge Cup. Starting with the FAI Cup and the holders Cork City enjoyed a comfortable passage through to the semi-finals. They were away to First Division side Longford Town who had a bigger than usual crowd in City Calling Stadium. But the expected home challenge never materialised as Cork won 7-0. Goals from first Gearoid Morrissey and then Kieran Sadlier had them two up after 23 minutes. Longford were then reduced to ten when Darren Meenan was sent off in the 39th minute. The home side then collapsed in the second half adding goals from Ronan Coughlan, Josh O’Hanlon, Barry McNamee whilst Sadlier scored twice to complete his hat-trick.
Last season’s beaten finalists Dundalk are also through. They were also away as they travelled to Markets Field to play Limerick. The two sides had played the week previous in the league with Limerick pushing Dundalk all the way before going down to a late goal from Michael Duffy. This time around it wasn’t as close. Dundalk won 4-0. Pat Hoban scored two with John Mountney and Georgie Kelly both getting a goal each.
It looks like the wheels have come off for Waterford FC, they were overtaken by Shamrock Rovers in the league last week as they dropped to 4th. And over the weekend they were knocked out of the Cup as they were beaten 2-1 in the Belfield Bowl by First Division champions-elect UCD. Conor David and Timmy Molloy scored the goals for the Students with Stanley Aborah pulling a goal back late on for Waterford. The remaining tie between Derry City and Bohemian FC will be played on Wednesday 19th September in the Brandywell. Derry had players involved in the U-21 international squads for both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. While Bohemian FC were in action in the second round of the Irn Bru Scottish Challenge Cup which has been expanded to include two teams from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
They were drawn away to Scottish League Two side Peterhead who are currently second in that division. They are managed by former Celtic player Jim McInally who started his managerial career in Ireland with Sligo Rovers. Bohs progressed winning 1-0 thanks to a second-half goal from Kevin Devaney who ironically enough for McInally is from Sligo. This was the first win in this competition for sides from the league after defeats for both Bray Wanderers and Sligo Rovers last season. Better fortunes this time around for Rovers who are also through to the third round. They were drawn at home to Livingston’s U-21’s who actually took the lead through a goal after two minutes from Matthew Knox. Rovers ended up winning 4-1 with Mikey Drennan hitting a hat-trick and David Cawley got the other.
The draw for the next round is in October.
