There were three games played in the Premier Division with the focus being the race to finish third now that Dundalk have won the league. Both Shamrock Rovers and Waterford FC have qualified for Europe next year and went into the weekend level on 56 points. Waterford were home to the new champions and were beaten 2-1. Patrick Hoban and Ronan Murray with the goals for the Lillywhites. Dessie Hutchinson scored for Waterford.
So that defeat gave Shamrock the chance to give themselves a bit of breathing space and they duly capitalised as a goal from Daniel Carr in injury time gave them a 1-0 win away against St. Patrick’s Athletic in Richmond Park. They might have surrendered their league crown but it was still a good week for Cork City. On Monday evening they beat Bohemian FC 2-1 in their FAI Cup semi-final replay. This means that for the fourth season in a row they will take on Dundalk in the Blue Riband decider which will be played in the Aviva Stadium. Cork have won the last two finals.
On Friday night they welcomed Limerick to Turner’s Cross in the Munster derby and beat them 3-0. Jimmy Keohane, Kieran Sadlier and Aaron Barry got the goals. It finished honours even in the first leg of the First Division play-off final as Drogheda United and Finn Harps played out a 1-1 draw in United Park. Ciaran Kelly gave the home side the lead with Nathan Boyle equalising for Harps. The return leg is on this coming Friday and the winners will play Limerick.
There were two sides from the league in action in the third round of the IRN BRU Cup (Scottish Challenge Cup) as Sligo Rovers travelled to Fir Park to take on Motherwell Colts whilst Bohemian FC were home to Vanamara National League side Sutton United. Rovers had been due to travel on Friday from Derry Airport but their flight was cancelled so they didn’t fly out until the morning of the game which might explain their sluggish display as they were summarily beaten 2-0. The first was an own goal from Patrick McClean and the second was a fine individual effort from Christian Mbulu. It was a far tighter affair in the meeting of Bohs and Sutton with no separating the sides in 90 minutes as they played out a goalless draw. As is the rules of the competition, the game went straight to penalties with Bohs keeper Shane Supple being his side’s hero as they won 4-3 in sudden death. Bohs are now through the quarter-finals, the first side from the league to get this far.
