Josh Fitzpatrick rocket earns spirited Cork City victory
Josh Fitzpatrick's first goal for his hometown club, combined with City's second clean sheet of the season, was enough to break their duck against John Caulfield's Galway United.
In all, City had gone 14 games dating back to April without a league victory. Their slim hopes of avoiding relegation require much more of the same as they remain eight points behind Sligo Rovers.
If the Bit O'Red win their game in hand against Shelbourne, Galway could be dragged into the relegation play-off berth before the weekend is out.
After coughing up a two-goal lead against Sligo, City's tailspin appeared to continue during the week as they lost Milan Mbeng to Shelbourne, Malik Dijksteel to St Mirren, and Cathal O'Sullivan to a serious knee injury.
Nash kept changes to a minimum with Alex Nolan replacing O'Sullivan.
Caulfield overhauled more than half his team following their 4-2 defeat to Waterford. Brendan Clarke returned between the posts, joined by former City players Jimmy Keohane, Garry Buckley, and Colm Horgan, ex-Cobh stalwart David Hurley, plus Dara McGuinness.
Another former Leesider, Stephen Dooley, signed midweek, but didn't feature here.
City replicated their rapid start against Sligo Rovers by netting their fastest goal of the season in little over four minutes.
After Harry Nevin's good work down the right, they switched the ball via Matthew Kiernan to Fitzpatrick on the other flank. He took two touches to tee up a 25-yard rocket, which roared into the far bottom corner.
Josh Fitzpatrick fires Cork City in front from 25 yards out!🚀 pic.twitter.com/8MB8PD4esK
— League of Ireland (@LeagueofIreland) August 1, 2025
The young winger's first professional goal will rank high on the club's goal of the season shortlist. But captain Fiacre Kelleher limped off injured after a penalty appeal as Galway upped the ante.
They almost caught their hosts cold with a training-ground corner-kick routine. However, Keohane's fierce effort was deflected over by his teammate Edward McCarthy.
More pressure down the flanks led to a Stephen Walsh header, which drew a sharp reaction save from Conor Brann. The keeper later denied a glancing Horgan header from another set piece, while Keohane couldn't connect with a through ball.
Caulfield called on returning midfielder Patrick Hickey at half-time, but City started stronger by feeding off Galway errors.
Kitt Nelson dragged a shot wide before sliding in Evan McLaughlin, who was denied by Hurley's block.
The Tribesmen were struggling to come up with any response, although nerves were bound to set in for City. It all unravelled from the hour mark against Sligo, and they had a scare here in the same minute. However, Hickey was flagged offside before finishing to the net.
Before long, the American forged a point-blank chance under a long ball. It whizzed wide, although a corner was awarded for an apparent nick off of Rory Feely.
The centre-back also got in the way of a Hurley blast. Despite some anxious moments under Galway's aerial bombardment, five yellow cards, and nine minutes of added time, City held out with last-gasp goalline blocks from Walsh and Hurley.
Cork City: Conor Brann; Harry Nevin, Rory Feely, Fiacre Kelleher (Freddie Anderson 28), Matthew Kiernan; Darragh Crowley, Evan McLaughlin; Alex Nolan (Charlie Lutz 63), Kitt Nelson (Kaedyn Kamara 63), Josh Fitzpatrick (Benny Couto 90+2); Seani Maguire.
Galway United: Brendan Clarke; Jeannot Esua, Garry Buckley, Rob Slevin, Bobby Burns (Axel Piesold 81); Jimmy Keohane (Vincent Borden 71), Colm Horgan (Patrick Hickey 46), David Hurley, Edward McCarthy (Aaron Bolger 57); Stephen Walsh, Dara McGuinness (Killian Brouder 71).
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Mirror
6 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Joe Marler admitted his 'bulls*** behaviour' towards Lions call-ups wasn't right
It requires a substantial character to acknowledge when one has messed up, and former British and Irish Lion Joe Marler isn't above confessing to his blunders. In particular, the ex-England prop feels remorse for his "bulls*** behaviour" towards 'The Geography Six' during the 2017 Lions tour of New Zealand. Andy Farrell's Lions squad will wrap up their summer tour of Australia on Saturday, having already secured a series triumph by establishing a 2-0 lead. It goes without saying that matters have been considerably more peaceful than the New Zealand expedition of eight years past. That summer journey stands out for various reasons, not least because it represented the first drawn Lions series in more than six decades. Nevertheless, head coach Warren Gatland also faced criticism for selecting The Geography Six ahead of other, arguably more suitable, candidates. Scotsmen Allan Dell and Finn Russell plus Welshmen Kristian Dacey, Tomas Francis, Cory Hill and Gareth Davies were summoned to the squad to bolster the group, primarily for non-Test matches. Wales and Scotland were touring in New Zealand and Australia, respectively, meaning some of their players were favoured over other top-quality options situated further afield at the time. Marler, 35, was apparently irritated certain England colleagues, who were touring Argentina, and others were overlooked. The discontented front-rower, who hung up his boots last year, has since admitted he didn't conceal his emotions from those who received the summons. "The murmurs throughout the majority of the squad were like, 'What the f***, guys?' For me, I look back on it and I regret the way I behaved towards the six players for the majority of the time," he told guest Dan Cole on The Joe Marler Show (via Wales Online) in 2021. Marler made the admission to close friend Dan Cole on his podcast in 2021 (Image: Getty Images) "For some reason, I just went full resentment towards them as if it was their fault that they'd been called up. [Or] that when they got the call, they should have said they don't fancy it. "That's how I felt at the time, and looking back on it, I feel like that's f***ing bulls*** from me. Especially the point at which they tried subbing us off and I was like, 'F*** off.'" Marler was so furious that he point-blank refused to be taken off during a midweek win over the Hurricanes in Wellington. The Lions attempted to make their changes, but referee Romain Poite allowed play to continue when Marler declared he wasn't budging from the pitch. It's virtually unprecedented for a rugby player to defy the coaching team's instructions, regardless of whether the fixture was a Test match. Marler's reflection four years later clearly showed he recognised his mistakes. Marler made five appearances on the 2017 tour but didn't earn a Test cap (Image:) The ex-Harlequins star also revealed his thoughts on Gatland and his coaching methods. And despite the New Zealander's legendary status in certain circles, one particular scrummaging session left Marler questioning everything. "I don't think I ever got close enough to blow smoke up his a***," he added. "I found him quite an awkward character, which says a lot really because I tend to surround myself with awkward characters! "I thought he was alright. My experience was that I felt the Test team had already been picked, and it was going to be pretty hard to change a lot about that. That's just my view of it. Then I think I struggled with him when I couldn't work out this scrum drill. I couldn't work out whether he was taking the p*** out of us or whether he was being serious. "If he was taking the p*** then it's like, 'Hang on a minute, you're taking the p*** out of the midweek veg. You're not working on trying to keep the squad together.' But if he wasn't taking the p*** out of us and it was a legit drill, then it's, 'Hang on a minute, you're meant to be one of the best coaches in the world.'"
RTÉ News
36 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Seamus Power fighting to make cut as weather disrupts Wyndham Championship
Waterford's Seamus Power was sitting just inside the projected cut-line when bad weather caused an early end to Round 2 of the Wyndham Championship. American Cameron Young had reached 14-under after 15 holes when lightning forced the players in, with Power 11 shots back in a tie for 65th after 11 holes. The projected cut-line was sitting at three-under, so Power has work to do when the round resumes on Saturday, with the third round changing to threesomes off the first and 10th tees should he make it that far. Power started his second round on the 10th hole and picked up a birdie at the 11th after his putt from just inside 20 feet rolled in. Another birdie arrived at the second and he'll have another excellent look at a birdie when play resumes as his tee shot to the par-three third landed seven feet of the hole. The 38-year-old needs a win to make the last 70 and the opening event of the post-season, the FedEx St Jude Championship, but that appears a near impossible feat at this stage. Defending champion Aaron Rai was within a shot of the lead. The Englishman, who opened with a seven-under-par round of 63 at the Sedgefield Country Club in North Carolina, picked up six strokes before the weather interruption. American Mac Meissner shot a 63 and Sungjae Im of South Korea a 64 to lead in the clubhouse on 12-under par. Overnight leader Joel Dahmen, chasing a place in the top 70 in the FedEx Cup rankings in the final event before the play-offs, mixed two birdies with as many bogeys as he remained on nine under.
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Amee-Leigh Costigan: 'We really want to put in performances and we want to make Ireland proud'
Wednesday afternoon, just three days out from a long-anticipated warm-up with Scotland in Cork. A World Cup, Ireland's first in eight long years, is just over the horizon and yet Amee-Leigh Costigan is casting her mind back 12 months. It's a year to the day as she talks since the Olympic medal matches at the women's sevens in Stade de France. Since the USA edged Australia to bronze and New Zealand had seven points to spare on Canada in the final. All of it in front of a raucous full house. Paris was something to behold last summer. You can't adequately explain the frisson that permeates a host Olympic city until you've experienced it and Costigan was part of a rugby programme that more or less kicked things off before even the opening ceremony. 'I saw the American girls and Canadian girls resharing their medal videos and stuff, so yeah, one year ago,' said Costigan. Wistful? There was a touch of it. The Tipperary winger endured the needle for the obligatory Olympic tattoo after a campaign that saw the Irish team lose a quarter-final by 33 points to the Aussies before another pair of defeats fed into an eventual eighth place finish. If that wasn't the goal that they had set for themselves pre-Paris then Costigan, one of half-a-dozen players in the current XVs squad aiming for the World Cup after involvement in the Games last summer, is confident that the experience will stand to her. 'Yeah, it's probably a similar mindset for me, that they are two huge pinnacle occasions in both sports, and I am so grateful to be able to say that last summer I got to go to the Olympics and this summer I'm preparing to put my hand up for selection for a World Cup. 'So it really is a great place to be. The Olympics inspired me to become a better player. So does every game that I play, every session that I play, and it's had a good effect on my mindset around how I want to be the best version of myself on-pitch and off-pitch.' Now 30 years of age, and with well over a decade of experience across both forms of the game behind her, Costigan spoke of the goosebumps she was still feeling a year on from her part in the biggest show on earth. The Clanwilliam RFC graduate stood up before the XVs group when they assembled for pre-season last month and spoke about the experience, and how it equated in magnitude to what they will absorb in the form of a World Cup in England. Yes, she can now call herself an Olympian but she is still Leigh, still the same person, so the point made was that her teammates should embrace this without letting the enormity of the hoopla wash over them like a wave, or change them as a person. 'When the squad heads over to England we will have time to digest this feeling of getting to the World Cup and how it actually feels, but then switching on, knowing we're not there just to show up. We really want to put in performances and we want to make Ireland proud.' That a World Cup is 'big' is stating the obvious. This one is all the grander for the fact that Ireland aren't alone in redirecting a swathe of their sevens players to the XV format for the year that is in it. The Black Ferns, England, France: they've all done the same. But Scotland, first. This first warm-up game takes Scott Bemand's side back to Cork for the first time since they faced England there during the Six Nations. That was a game that showed the progress made, the potential still to be unlocked and the distance yet to travel. The visitors won 49-5, after all, and yet the buzz when Costigan went over after 24 minutes to give Ireland the lead on the back of a brilliant start was inescapable with the winger's own exuberance in the celebration helping to ignite it all. 'At the time it was just, 'let's get this crowd going'. That's probably why I celebrated so hard. I don't usually celebrate that hard. But it just came off so well and I was like, 'you know what it deserves it'' and the crowd here deserves something to be screaming and roaring about'. 'The energy down there that we felt was something else. It really felt like an extra player. Coming into this weekend, I hope they give us good cheers if we win a turnover, win a scrum, score tries, whatever it is. They're just as part of the game as we are.' Let the odyssey begin. Another one.
