Shamrock Rovers 5-2 Cork City

FAI Airtricity Under 19 National League, Sunday 12^th February, 2012 at Sacred Heart, Killinarden.

Shamrock Rovers 5 (Ebbe 4 (1 pen), Dixon) Cork City 2 (Kavanagh, Morrissey)

Ebbe Hits Four Against League Leaders

It promised to be a game and a half and it certainly lived up to its billing. The meeting of Shamrock Rovers and league leaders Cork City at Sacred Heart on Sunday afternoon had everything. As well as plenty of goals, there were two penalties, one converted, one missed, five yellow cards and two red ones. Cork’s unbeaten record went by the wayside in a game that was very competitive from start to finish. And what an afternoon it was for marksman Dean Ebbe – he hit four of the Hoops’ goals including a penalty in the very first minute of the game. Stephen Kenny donned his boots and took to the pitch at the start but don’t be shocked – it was a player on the Cork side by the same name as the newly-appointed Shamrock Rovers boss!

Right from the start it was easy to see how the Cork lads had built up a nice lead for themselves in the table. Their fast movement, both on and off the ball, would be difficult for any side to deal with but a Hoops side that had scored nineteen goals in their previous three outings were well up for this and played so well as a unit that they had City down and out at half time. But there’s no room for complacency against a side of their calibre and, as they showed in the second half, even at three goals in arrears they were not going to take this lying down.

The game was just two minutes old when the score line read 1-1; it must be some sort of record. A handball in the Cork box resulted in a penalty which the ever cool Ebbe slotted home successfully. Parity was restored within a minute though when John Kavanagh hit the ball on the volley and gave Lee Steacy no chance in the Hoops goal. If those present didn’t realise what was at stake here they learned pretty quickly. It was fast and furious and within minutes of the equalizer Ebbe headed just over the bar while at the other end Ross McCarthy’s free kick was close enough to be dangerous. It was a different game, maybe for both sides, to what is the norm with tighter marking, quicker movement and less time on the ball. Despite this though, Hoops’ right winger Lorcan Shannon managed a generous amount of his customary runs and it was from one of these, when he swung the ball in from the end line, that Ebbe scored his second with a header. Paul Moffatt was shown a yellow card for a foul on McCarthy and the City midfielder took the free kick himself but didn’t trouble Steacy with his effort. Steven Carroll was booked for Cork for a foul on Sean Dixon as the game grew even more competitive but the referee did very well to keep matters under control.

Rovers went 3-1 up in the twenty-eight minute after Cork ‘keeper David Browne managed to parry a shot by Dixon but Ebbe was positioned nicely to tap the ball into the net for his hat trick. The visitors were rattled now and resorted to a lot of wild shooting in the hope of pulling something back before half time. The fourth goal came from the right when Shannon did remarkably well to get the ball across when it looked like he had gone too far to the end line with it and Dixon, surrounded by no less than five City players, stood up well to the odds and sliced the ball past Browne into the bottom right hand corner of the net. Garry Comerford went close when he glanced a header past the ‘keeper’s left from a Shannon free kick after Carroll took Thomas O’Rourke out of it.

The second half was barely on when left full Jack Memery conceded a free kick but the wall held well to block Stephen Kenny’s free. Cork had come quickly out of the blocks after the break but they seemed to run out of ideas and there was a spell during which Rovers ran the show comfortably. During this spell Shannon shot over the bar, O’Rourke shot wide and then almost took the ball off Browne and then Dixon took a shot at goal when the better option was to give it to Ebbe on his left. Gary Buckley headed wide for Cork just before the fifth Hoops goal was scored; Dixon was again involved, laying the ball on for Shannon who in turn delivered to Ebbe and the big lad once more steadied himself to tap the ball into the net to make it 5-1. It is no wonder that Ebbe is on standby for the Republic of Ireland Under 18 team and is reported to have caught the eye of Ireland Under 19 manager Paul Doolin.

Dean Ebbe was in fine form against Cork, hitting four in the 5-2 win

The Hoops switched off momentarily at the time Marc Keeley came on as a substitute for Ebbe and Cork had two quick chances, the first was saved by Steacy, the second saw Andrew O’Connell shoot over the bar. With ten minutes remaining Cork won a corner and from this move Danny Morrissey reduced the arrears to 5-2. Within a minute came a moment of drama at the other end when ‘keeper Browne took Jackson down inside the box and received his marching orders. Darragh Corcoran pulled on the ‘keeper’s jersey and faced Jackson who took the penalty award but hit the post. Right on the nose of full time Moffat was shown his second yellow card of the afternoon and of course red and will now miss the home game next week against Bray Wanderers.

Hoops Physio Willie Conlon was a busy man for the afternoon and had to treat James Mullaney no less than three times. The young man from Laois showed no ill-effects for all his troubles and again gave a sturdy display at right full. Manager Stephen Kenny was amongst the crowd and wouldn’t have missed the point that quite a number of Declan Hevey’s lads are already knocking on the door of the first team.

Shamrock Rovers: 1. Lee Steacy. 2 James Mullaney. 3 Jack Memery. 4 Garry Comerford. 5 Donal Branagan. 6 Charlie Kenna (Forrester 50 mins). 7 Lorcan Shannon. 8 Paul Moffat. 9 Dean Ebbe (Keeley 77 mins). 10 Sean Dixon (Jackson 70 mins). 11 Thomas O’Rourke. Substitutes: 13. Marc Keeley. 14 Bobo Nkanu. 15 Niall Forrester. 16 Patrick Reilly. 17 Stephen Foy. 18 Ciaran Byrne. 19 Kelvin Jackson.

Cork City: 1 David Browne. 2 Andrew Joyce. 3 Jason Forde (Corcoran 72 mins). 4 Eoghan Murphy. 5 Steven Carroll. 6 Ross McCarthy. 7 John Kavanagh (Dineen 82 mins). 8 Gary Buckley. 9 Danny Morrissey. 10 Andrew O’Connell. 11. Stephen Kenny (Lehane 69 mins). 14 Darragh Corcoran. 15 Liam O’Sullivan. 16 Darren Murphy. 17 Chris Dineen. 18 Robert Lehane. 19 Alan Anderson. 20 David Drinan.

Match report compiled by Robert Goggins 

Reproduced by kind permission of Shamrock Rovers FC