Cork City 4-1 Shelbourne August 5th 2011

 The top two in the 1st Division clashed at Turners' Cross with Cork taking on a strong Shelbourne side. Shelbourne, coached by former Cork boss Alan Matthews were unbeaten away from home until this game. Cork were also defending an unbeaten home record this season.
The kick-off time was the usual 19:45 and as per usual I turned up early for the game to catch the atmosphere building.
By kick-off the shed was rocking. We were welcoming are long time rivals from Dublin. This fixture had a history of high intense games especially when the two clubs were battling for League of Ireland titles,

 now it was a battle for the 1st division title. This game was going to be epic for someone!
The game started with an unfamiliar sight of the away side stamping their authority on the game. Shelbourne were on top for the opening minutes and it showed when David Cassidy placed expertly past Mark McNulty to put Shelbourne 1-0 up right in front of the Shed.
Shelbourne continued to dominate for the opening twenty minutes until Cork finally rose out of their shell and attacked the league leaders. 

 Cork leveled the game on the half-hour when Graham Cummins headed past Dean Delaney to the delight of the home support. The game was poised to be a classic, which it duly turned into just shy of half-time when Davin O'Neill made it 2-1.
Shelbourne were shell-shocked with Cork's resurgence. That resurgence was shown again in the 2nd half despite no goals to show for it. The next goal did arrive on 78 minutes with the shed singing as O'Neill got his 2nd goal of the evening with a tap-in. Cork were well and truely on top and Shelbourne's unbeaten away record was ebbing

 away from them.
Three minutes after O'Neill made it 3-1, loan-signing Daryl Horgan managed the squeeze in a shot past the crowd of players in the six yard box and made it 4-1 to the delight of the 3500 strong crowd.
For the last nine minutes of the game Cork played possession football, looking to expolit any more gaps that would appear in the shacky Shelbourne defense. Of all the games I have seen Cork play, they were playing with superb confidance that night with every player getting a touch of the ball. To think that Shelbourne were the dominant side in the

 opening twenty minutes was mind boggling.
The final whistle from referee, Pádraig Sutton sounded and Cork were 4-1 winners on the night and closed the gap between the two sides to seven points.
Without doubt it was the performance of the season from Cork and ahead of the League cup semi-final against Limerick three days later it was perfect preparation.