WARSAW EARN A KUCHION

Brave Rebels fall to cracking strike but are still in tie

Kucharcyk 79 IT took a magnificent goal to break Cork’s resistance in the Turner’s Cross bearpit last night.

John Caulfield’s side can count themselves unlucky, for they gave as good as they got in an absorbing tie.

And they had the chances to head to Warsaw next week with a first leg lead.

But Polish champions Legia left Leeside with a crucial one goal advantage, courtesy of Michal Kucharcyk’s wonder strike.

There were 11 minutes remaining when Garry Buckley took a yellow card for his team, fouling Kasper Hamalainen midway inside his own half as the visitors struck on the counter.

As Cork defended the edge of their area, Krzysztof Maczynski rolled the free kick from right to left and Polish international Kucharcyk let fly first time from 30 yards.

His shot fizzed into the top corner, giving Peter Cherrie no chance.

It was tough on City, who were without first-choice goalkeeper Mark Mcnulty and hugely experienced centre-half Alan Bennett.

But in Cherrie and Damien Delaney, making his competitive bow in his second spell with the club, they had almost like for like replacements.

Mcnulty and Bennett should return next week but City may be without powerhouse midfielder Gearoid Morrissey and young right-back Conor Mccarthy after they limped out.

Veteran Delaney endured a difficult start, miskicking a first minute clearance out for a corner and he looked uneasy in the opening stages.

But when the Ireland international settled, he was a commanding presence in a defence that also featured a 23, 21 and a 20-year-old on their

European debuts.

Legia did threaten at times in the first half but failed to trouble Cherrie. Early on,

Hamalainen glanced a header wide and Sebastian Szymanski fired a free kick over in the

21st minute.

Moments later, Szymanski should have hit the target but blazed over.

The best chances of the half fell to Cork. In the fourth minute, Jimmy Keohane’s near post cross to Karl Sheppard was well cut out by Inaki Astiz.

But Barry Mcnamee should have scored 10 minutes later when Kucharczyk passed the ball across his own area. Under pressure from William Remy, Mcnamee could not connect properly with a right-footed shot. With Morrissey and Conor Mccormack like men possessed in the engine room, Cork built momentum – and the home dugout was incensed when ref Radu Petrescu failed to award a 16th minute penalty.

Morrissey crossed from the right byline and when Sheppard dummied, Keohane was impeded as he went to pull the trigger. Unfortunately for Morrissey, he suffered a groin injury just two minutes into the second half and was replaced by Graham Cummins. Inevitably, the hosts began to defend deeper and deeper but still almost grabbed the lead.

Sub Steven Beattie cut in and dragged a daisy-cutter just wide, while Cummins could not get enough power into a header from Keohane’s corner. Those missed chances proved costly when Kucharcyk found the net in front of the Shed End.