Derry City are through to the second round of the Irish Daily Mail FAI Senior Cup as they demolished local Cork side Blarney United 12-2 at O’Shea Park in Blarney on Saturday evening. These sides have a history having faced each other twice already
Derry City are through to the second round of the Irish Daily Mail FAI Senior Cup as they demolished local Cork side Blarney United 12-2 at O’Shea Park in Blarney on Saturday evening.
These sides have a history having faced each other twice already in this competition back in 2006 and 2013, both in the second round.
United manager Brian Murray was also in charge when the Candystripes visited in ’06 and on that occasion Stephen Kenny’s side emerged narrow 3-1 victors on their way to claiming the competition that season.
Their most recent trip to Blarney in 2013 saw striker Rory Patterson net a hat-trick as they eventually cruised to a 4-0 win.
And Derry started brightly here as they took the lead after just four minutes thanks to Ronan Hale.
Ally Roy’s cross from the right picked out the playmaker in the middle and he made no mistake, calmly controlling the ball before drilling past the keeper from a few yards.
City, who have won this competition on five occasions, continued to pile players forward and they doubled their lead in the seventh minute.
The instrumental Aaron McEneff secured possession on the edge of the Blarney penalty area and curled an unstoppable effort into the top right corner of the net.
And the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division side added a third just one minute later following a sweeping attacking move.
Derry kept possession well until Darren Cole upped the tempo by playing a superb ball behind the United defence for Ally Roy to race onto.
The striker cut past his man on the end line, edged the ball away from the goalkeeper before drilling his strike past the recovering defender on the line.
The Munster Senior League first division side were shell-shocked and things got even worse for them after 20 minutes as Roy grabbed his second of the evening to make it 4-0
Rory Hale’s powerful effort from distance skipped off the wet surface and was parried by goalkeeper Cian Woods, allowing the lively Roy to tuck home the rebound.
Derry made it five just shy of the half an hour mark when Aaron McEneff slotted in from close range after Darren Cole’s cross was nodded into his path by a United defender.
Roy completed his hat-trick to make it six as he drilled a fierce shot past the keeper at his near post from twenty yards.
And McEneff had the opportunity to complete his own treble shortly before the half-time interval as his side were awarded a penalty after Kevin McHattie was fouled inside the area but the midfielder thumped his shot wide of the bottom right corner.
But they weren’t to be denied for too much longer as Rory Hale turned his brother Ronan’s cross past the United shot-stopper from a few yards to make it 7-0 at the break.
Derry picked up where they left off from the first period at the beginning of the second as Shane McNamee, brother of Cork City midfielder Barry, scored the eight before Ally Roy notched his fourth to make it nine moments later.
Cathal Farren was introduced from the bench and he sent his team’s score into double digits when he finished with ease.
Blarney, to their credit, continued to battle and they reduced the deficit with both David Welch and Conor Cronin netting for the home side.
But the reprieve was all too brief as further goals from Kevin McHattie and Shane McNamee’s restored Derry’s ten goal lead to ensure the game finished 12-2 for a record-equalling FAI Cup winning margin.
Blarney United: Cian Woods, Jack O’Driscoll, Kevin O’Sullivan, Aaron O’Raw, Allan Weldon, Anthony Crowley, Ray O’Leary, Aiden Leahy, David Welch, Francisco Ruiz, Ivan O’Leary.
Subs: Jamie Frennan, Conor Cronin, Stephen O’Brien, Thomas Carroll, Donnacha Murphy, Conor Stokes and Corey Murphy.
Derry City: Gerard Doherty, Dan Seaborne, Aaron McEneff, Aaron Splaine, Rory Hale, Ally Roy, Gavin Peers, Darren Cole, Dean Shiels, Ronan Hale, Kevin McHattie.
Subs: Jamie McDonagh, Ben Fisk, Eric Grimes, Cathal Farren, Ben Doherty, Aidy Delap and Shane McNamee.
