Thursday night was the first leg of the first qualifying round of the Europa League. Cork City were pitted against Belfast's Linfield in the draw that took place on June 20th. The closest possible trip we will probably ever get in European competition.
A handy European away trip saw about 250 city fans make the journey to Belfast. A number that may have been higher had there not been a muck up with tickets. The conditions were heavy rain for most of the day which probably played a factor in the pitch cutting up badly throughout the game.
The first half was quite competitive. Linfield had fashioned a couple of openings while City were struggling to force debutante keeper Roy Carroll into flying stops, but that was the come later. The best chance fell to Linfield in the first half when a header was sent over in the six yard box. A major let off.
The second half was more City as the fitness played a major factor. City are mid season albeit only one competitive game played in three weeks but Linfield were on the back of just the one friendly against Knockbreda. City looked threatening and took the lead when Stephen Dooley was felled in the box. Up stepped Sean Maguire to slot the penalty home sending Carroll the wrong way. Delight in the away end. 1-0 and the opportunity was there to push for more goals to really take a proper lead down south. It would've been 2-0 had Roy Carroll not produced a flying stop from a header later in the half. Fresh from being part of the Northern Ireland squad in France,
Incidentally it was City's first win in European competition since a 2-0 away victory against Valur Reykjavík in 2007 in the old InterToto cup.
Next objective is to secure a first home victory in Europe that stretches back even further to the 1-0 success against Apollon Limassol in the 2006-07 champions league qualifiers. A victory and its a trip to Sweden to face BK Häcken from Gothenburg for a place in the third qualifying round, the draw for which takes place on July 15th.
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