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Cork City have been relegated from the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division, as Saturday night’s loss at Sligo Rovers was followed by a Finn Harps win at Bohemians.
A 74-minute penalty from Ronan Coughlan against his ex, Sligo Rovers moved up to fourth place and Harps’ win at Dalymount Park means City are four points behind the bottom with just one league game to play.
Having led 1-0 at halftime thanks to Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe’s early goal, Sligo rallied when City substitute Dylan McGlade scored a free kick midway through the second half and there was a period after the draw in which the visitors seemed more likely to score the third goal of the game.
However, they couldn’t find the advantage and when City failed to clear a Sligo corner kick, goalkeeper Liam Bossin fouled Ogedi-Uzokwe and Coughlan converted the resulting penalty.
Early in the first half, City received a penalty when Alec Byrne’s shot from outside the box was deemed to have struck the hand of Sligo defender John Mahon, but Kit Elliott’s shot was well saved by Ed McGinty. for a corner.
That was in the eighth minute and just two minutes later, Sligo was up front when McGinty’s free kick from deep cleared the City defense and Ogedi-Uzokwe held on to the fumble and edged past Bossin.
While City tried to respond well, they couldn’t create many clear chances, even though Sligo didn’t threaten much for the rest of the first half either.
Cian Bargery’s introduction for the second half helped bring a greater threat to City when they traded to 4-3-3 and Cian Coleman and Beineon O’Brien-Whitmarsh had chances before McGlade’s draw at 64. He just entered , the winger sent a low free kick from the left edge of the penalty area and the ball went to the net.
Tail up, City pushed for a goal lead and in quick succession Coleman had a saved shot, Bargary fired from distance and Jake O’Brien landed a free kick from O’Connor, but McGinty denied him. His momentum was affected, however, when Sligo took the lead again and while Bargary shot up after a good run and Coleman made a good save from McGinty after some good work from understudy Cian Murphy, a draw could not be found. .
City’s relegation was confirmed later Saturday night when Finn Harps stunned the Bohemians with a 2-0 win at Dalymount Park.
A goal in each half from left back Mark Russell earned the Donegal team an unlikely victory and confirmed Shamrock Rovers as champions without the Hoops ever having to step onto the field.
Bohs winger Anto Breslin and Harps midfielder Leo Donnellan received direct red cards for separate incidents at the end, as Harps ensured they will face a relegation tiebreaker in the worst case scenario.
Ollie Horgan’s team hadn’t played in three weeks due to Covid-19 postponements, but they have been in decent shape with just one loss in their last seven games.
Bohs had the best of the first play and Keith Ward pulled a save from Mark McGinley in the 19th minute, but gradually Harps went up and made it an opening goal at the edge of the break.
Stephen Folan launched a long pitch from Tony McNamee and Russell, fighting a defender with his back to goal, hooked the ball with the outside of his left boot into the upper corner.
It was a moment of real quality in a game that had been lacking, and six minutes after the restart, Harps was within two goals thanks to a great attack.
Tony McNamee released Adam Foley down the right and, with right-back Andy Lyons stopped by Barry McNamee’s near post run, Foley picked Russell into space.
The full-back still had a lot to do as he took a low shot away from goalkeeper James Talbot and into a postage-stamp-sized space in the bottom corner.
Meanwhile, Drogheda United will secure their return to the Premier Division on Tuesday once they get a better result at Cabinteely than Bray Wanderers against Athlone Town.
The Wanderers lost the top spot on Saturday night when they lost 1-0 to Galway United thanks to Carlton Ubaezuonu’s goal in injury time. Drogs, relegated to the First Division in 2017, regained control of the title race by beating Wexford Youths at United Park.
Veteran defender Derek Prendergast gave them the lead in the 19 th minute at the end after Hugh Douglas hit a Chris Lyons corner on his way. Mark Doyle squandered a couple of chances to double the lead in the second half before ending the game with ten minutes to go as he clung to Jake Hyland’s pass and beat goalkeeper Karl Fitzsimons.
They take a one-point lead in the final series of matches, knowing that any slippage at Cabinteely would allow Bray to make a profit as long as they prevail in a more winnable match at Athlone.
At Carlisle Grounds, both sides needed wins for different reasons and Galway took it in death to stay in contention and snatch a playoff spot.
Galway hit the counter, with substitute Ubaezuonu jumping the offside trap to volley the winner past Brian Maher.
John Caulfield’s Tribesmen remain stuck with Cobh Ramblers at 26 points, two from Cabinteely occupying fifth and last of four play-off spots.
: McGinty; Banks, Buckley Mahon, Donelon (Cooper 77); Seymore, Morahan; Devers, DeVries (Noone half time), Ogedi-Uzokwe; Coughlan.
: Bossin; Olowu, O’Brien, O’Connor; Ochieng, Coleman, Byrne (McGlade 60), Morrissey, Hurley (Bargary break); O’Brien-Whitmarsh (Murphy 80), Elliott.
: R Hennessy (Clare).
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