16th September 1984 Dundalk 1-0 Cork City
Oriel Park was the venue for Cork City’s first ever league match in September 1984. The visitors were impressive but Dundalk were always the team most likely to grab the points in this curtain opener for the 1984/85 season. The only goal came after 49 minutes when Tom McNulty made a break down the right wing and crossed for Barry Kehoe who forced Jim Mulcahy into making a good save. Unfortunately for Mulcahy, the rebound went to John Cleary who had his shot cleared off the line but eventually McNulty smashed the ball to the net. Dundalk had enough possession to score a lot more goals but the Cork defence was well marshaled by Donie Madden and Don Curtin. Cork’s best chance came when Paul Crowley broke through the Dundalk defence but Richie Blackmore made a great save at his feet.
Dundalk: Blackmore, Nolan, Lawlor, McConville, Wright, Maher, McNulty, Kehoe, Cleary, Murray, Speake.
Cork City: Mulcahy, B Neiland, Ashton, Madden, Curtin, Keane, Barry, Bleasdale, Crowley, Leahy, T Neiland. Subs: Woodruff for Barry, Mahon for T Neiland.
16th October 1988 Dundalk 2-0 Cork City
Although this win took Dundalk to the joint top position in the league, Turlough O’Connor could not have been impressed with his team’s performance. For much of the game Dundalk struggled to hold onto a one-goal lead against a Cork City side reduced to ten men. Dundalk had the better of the early stages and took the lead after 22 minutes when Terry Eviston headed the ball to the Cork net off the back of John Cleary following a Dessie Gorman corner. Within a minute of the goal, Patsy Freyne was shown a red-card for a bad challenge on Martin Murray that eventually caused Murray’s withdrawal for Michael O’Connor. Gorman added a second in the second half to steady the nerves of the Oriel faithful.
Dundalk: O’Neill, Lawless, Lawlor, Murray, Gannon, Malone, Wyse, Kehoe, Eviston, Gorman, Cleary. Sub: O’Connor for Murray, Mackey for Lawlor.
Cork City: Harrington, Windridge, Long, Healy, Murphy, Freyne, Bowdren, Conroy, Duggan, O’Keefe, Caulfield. Sub: Nagle for Healy.
18th November 1990 Cork City 1-1 Dundalk
Cork City scored a late equaliser in this top of the table encounter in November 1990. Dundalk enjoyed the majority of the possession of the first half but went in at the break with nothing to show for it. Within five minutes of the restart, however, Dundalk too the lead. Paul Brady linked with Mick Kavanagh who crossed to the back post where Terry Eviston glided the ball home. It was no more than Eviston deserved for a great all round performance. Shortly afterwards Dave Mackey had a chance to wrap it up but Phil Harrington made a great save. In the closing stages, Cork took over with Declan Daly and Philip Long causing Dundalk a lot of problems on either flank. James Coll produced his usual towering performance to keep Cork at bay. Paul Bannon was only inches too high with a header from Conroy’s corner kick and when Daly shot over the bar with only four minutes left it looked like Dundalk were going to survive to take the three points. However, with seconds remaining, Pat Morley shot from the edge of the area and Alan O’Neill could only deflect the ball against the underside of the crossbar. John Butler won the race to the rebound to head the equaliser.
Cork City: Harrington, Daly, Bannon, Donoghue, Long, Cotter, Murphy, Conroy, Caulfield, Butler, Morley. Subs: Downey for Caulfield, Duggan for Downey.
Dundalk: O’Neill, Mackey, Murphy, Coll, Lawlor, Kavanagh, Lawless, Brady, Shelly, Eviston, Hanrahan.
8th December 1991 Cork City 4-0 Dundalk
Dundalk had traveled to Turner’s Cross eight months earlier to win the league title with a Tom McNulty goal. In this encounter in December 1991, Cork got their revenge. The turning point of the game came after 24 minutes when midfielder Paul Bray, deputizing for the injured Tom McNulty, was sent off after an off the ball incident with John Caulfield. The first goal came after 23 minutes when Pat Morley scored with a glancing header from a Liam Murphy cross. Dundalk bravely held on until the final ten minutes when Caulfield with a left-footed effort into O’Neill’s far corner. Mellon added number three after 85 minutes and Caulfield scored another on 88 minutes.
Cork City: Harrington, Murphy, Napier, Bannon, Daly, Mellon, Barry, Roche. McCabe, Caulfield, Morley.
Dundalk: O’Neill, Mackey, Coll, Murphy, Dunne, Shelly, McEvoy, Lawless, Brady, Eviston, Hanrahan. Sub: O’Callaghan for Dunne.
9th January 1994 Dundalk 2-2 Cork City
A very disappointing day for Dundalk. Having experienced the excitement of the top 6 split at the end of the 92/93 season that resulted with Dundalk just missing out by one point – Dundalk needed to win this match in order to be part of the top six play-offs. New manager Dermot Keely had revitalised Dundalk’s fortunes since his arrival two months earlier. Dundalk had only lost one game out of the nine games since his appointment. The match was played in terrible conditions but got off to a tremendous start when Trevor Donnelly latched on to a pass from Joe Hanrahan and shot home low into the far corner from the edge of the box past Phil Harrington. The equaliser came after 17 minutes following a very rare slip by James Coll that allowed Pat Morley to convert John Caulfield’s cross. Coll made up for his error after 30 minutes when he headed home Greg O’Dowd’s free-kick. However, Cork again came back when Tommy Gaynor converted the rebound after Eddie Van Boxtel had made a super save to deny his initial shot.
Dundalk: Van Boxtel, Purdy, Coll, Lawless, Lawlor, J Hanrahan, McNulty, Kelly, O’Dowd, Donnelly, P Hanrahan.
Cork City: Harrington, Daly, Philips, O’Donoghue, Napier, Murphy, Barry, Gaynor, Buckley, Morley, Caulfied. Sub: Glynn for Buckley.
23rd November 1997 Dundalk 1-0 Cork City
How this game was allowed to be played was incredible. There was biblical scenes at Oriel Park as Dundalk overcame Cork City during a torrential downpour. The game was also memorable for the linesman having to retire through injury (very convenient excuse to get out of the rain) that resulted in Denis McArdle taking the line which caused the Shed a lot of fun. Cork should have taken the lead after 28 minutes when Derek Coughlan dispossessed Brian Byrne and sent John Cotter through on goal. Cotter did the hard work by taking the ball around a stranded Steve Williams but, somehow, Kevin Brady managed to get back to block the shot on the line. Dundalk punished Cork for this miss just six minutes later. David Hoey arrived in the box to drive Peter Withnell’s flick low and hard past Noel Mooney in the Cork goal. Jason Kabia had a chance to level in the second half but Dundalk managed to hold out for a vital win.
Dundalk: Williams, Reddish, Brady, Doohan, Crawley, Hoey, Melvin, Carlyle, McCoy, WIthnell. Byrne. Sub: McNulty for Reddish
Cork City: Mooney, Coughlan, Cronin, Hartigan, O’Brien, Flanagan, Freyne, Cahill, Napier, Kabia, Cotter. Sub: Caulfield for Napier.
3rd February 2002 Cork City 0-0 Dundalk
The last time Dundalk played Cork City in a competitive fixture was this Premier Division match in February 2002. Earlier in the season, Dundalk had picked up three excellent points in September thanks to a late James Keddy goal. However, Cork easily defeated Dundalk 3-1 in the next encounter at Oriel Park in November during the terrible run that would eventually prove to be Dundalk’s undoing (Ger Robinson grabbed Dundalk’s goal). Dundalk had improved following the signing of Garry Haylock and produced an exceptional performance that should have delivered three points. Cork had goalkeeper Michael Devine to thank for keeping them in the match as the home side were completely outplayed by Martin Murray’s team. Haylock went close after just ten minutes when he ran onto David Hoey’s throw to strike a volley against the upright. Haylock’s striking partner, Martin Reilly, should have scored at least one of the three one-on-one contests he had with the Cork keeper in the second half. Reilly did come close in the 75th minute when his header from Keddy’s corner beat Devine but was cleared off the line by Pat Morley.
Dundalk: Williams, Reddish, Brady, Doohan, Crawley, Hoey, Melvin, Carlyle, McCoy, WIthnell. Byrne. Sub: McNulty for Reddish
Cork City: Mooney, Coughlan, Cronin, Hartigan, O’Brien, Flanagan, Freyne, Cahill, Napier, Kabia, Cotter. Sub: Caulfield for Napier.
