The visitors took the lead on 11 minutes when Morrissey intercepted a poor pass from Alan Byrne and he played in Ciaran Kilduff who sped into the box and hit a low shot into the far corner.

Kilduff then turned provider with a pinpoint pass to Shane Duggan who thumped his effort past the Drogheda keeper.

Drogheda had a glorious chance to get back on track on the half-hour mark when Ryan Brennan was brought down in the box for a penalty. However Brennan dragged the spot kick to the left and wide.

Brennan made amends right on the stroke of half-time when he placed his effort from inside the box into the far corner.

The home side drew level eight minutes after the restart when Ryan Brennan played in Jason Marks, who deftly flicked the ball back to Peter Hynes to coolly finish from six yards.

Mark McNulty was left scrambling on 77 minutes as Eric Foley hit a wonder strike from just inside the halfway line and luckily for the Cork keeper it failed to dip under the bar.

The winner came late on, as Cork once again capitalised on poor Drogheda passing. This time a Foley ball was intercepted by Buckley and City moved the ball to the left wing to Gearoid Morrissey. His ball to the back post was knocked down by the unmarked Kilduff to Danny Morrissey and he finished well from four yards out.

DROGHEDA UNITED: Sava: Hand, Byrne, McNally, Daly; Marks (O’Brien 79), Brennan, Holohan (O’Conor 69), Foley, Brady (Cassidy 69); Hynes

CORK CITY: McNulty; Kavanagh, Spillane, Buckley, D Murphy; Turner, G Morrissey, Duggan, Horgan; Kilduff, D Morrissey

Referee: Robert Harvey (Dublin).