Football: Blank look hits Cork's title hopes; Waterford 0 Cork City 0.

Byline: By CHRIS BEECH 

CORK City's bid to retain their league title and put back-to-back titles together took a nose-dive with an embarrassing 0-0 draw at bottom club Waterford United over the weekend.

The visit of the league champions drew Waterford's biggest crowd of the season when over 1,000 fans, 400 of them supporting Cork, turned up for this sun-splashed Munster derby.

But on an arid pitch that had not been watered at all, both sides struggled to cope with the rock hard surface.

Waterford, after 12 successive defeats, celebrated as if they had just won the title when they battled to get a draw and win their first point in 12 games.

Cork were fatigued from their midweek trip to Belgrade, and when they did finally get out of second gear in the second half they found Corkman Ben Spicer in superb form in the Blues goal.

He denied Roy O'Donovan and Denis Behan matchwinning goals in the second period while Mick Devine, at the other end, saved the champions from becoming the first club to lose to the Blues all season.

Daryl Kavanagh and Ian Fraher both had one-on-one chances to win the match in the last five minutes but Devine showed just why he is the best in the business.

Cork are now eight points in the slipstream of Shelbourne and defeat for the Leesiders in Tolka Park on Friday night would leave Pat Fenlon's in-form side a massive 11 points clear, and Cork with just one game in hand.

Cork will be missing top gun John O'Flynn now for anything up to six weeks after an injury relapse, and skipper Dan Murray is a doubt with a nasty gash under his eye - a war wound from the Munster derby.

Cork do have a backlog of fixtures to clear after a month's Champions' League football in Cyprus and Serbia.

They have games in hand against Bray, Sligo and St Pat's, but the Tolka table-toppers have the points in the bag.

"This was a serious kick-back from our Champions League game in Belgrade," said a dejected Damien Richardson.

"But the parched pitch didn't help either and it was like playing on concrete.

"It's a big disappointment to drop points here but it was only in the second half that we started to get any control of the game.

"Once we did that, we had chances but again our finishing let us down in front of goal and we paid the price."

It was not surprising that Waterford's standin boss Derek Browne's mood contrasted sharply with his opposite number's.

"It was a game we could have won right at the very end with Ian Fraher's chance, but having been at the wrong end of it for a long time this season, we will take a point," he said.

"I think for the spirit and the battling performance that the boys put in, three points might have been ours for the taking."

CAPTION(S):

WATER CHANCE: Ian Fraher was denied a goal' DEJECTED: Damien Richardson