The League of Ireland season is officially up and running for 2017 as the President's Cup kicked off in Turner's Cross on Friday night.

FAI Cup winners Cork City hosted league champions Dundalk in a repeat of November's meeting at the Aviva Stadium, and just like in that tightly fought affair Sean Maguire has managed to bag himself a goal.

The former Dundalk man latched on to a long ball over the top before using his pace to beat the defender and slide the ball home under Gabriel Sava, once again coming back to haunt the Lillywhites.

Kevin O'Connor then curled in a beautiful free-kick to double the lead, and the icing on the cake was an injury-time goal from Karl Sheppard to secure a confidence-boosting win for Cork City.


Maguire is a confident striker, we're going to go out on a limb here and say that won't be his last goal of the season.

What a start to the season for John Caulfield's men.

League play begins next Friday, as Cork City travel to Donegal to face Finn Harps while Dundalk will host Shamrock Rovers. It's good to have Friday football back.