The Bluebirds were victorious in their second 2026 pre-season encounter, defeating Cork City, 1-6, on Tuesday evening.
Callum Robinson opened the scoring for City in the first half. While the hosts managed to equalise, Isaak Davies (2), Robert Tankiewicz (2) and Yousef Salech struck later in the second half to secure a comfortable win.
Young attacker Jack Sykes showed his talents in an impressive opening 45 minutes showing and he was denied twice in quick succession at the start of the game.
Brian Barry-Murphy's side dominated the ball from the start, but Harry Tyrer was required to deny a trialist with 12 minutes on the clock.
Callum Robinson would've felt incredibly unfortunate to see his powerful effort crash out off the woodwork after 36 minutes, but the City forward wasn't to be denied our first goal of the pre-season campaign. Robinson met David Turnbull's free-kick with a clinical header five minutes before the break to give the Bluebirds a half-time lead.
11 different City players came into the game at half-time as BBM rang the changes to get pre-season minutes into as many players as possible.
The Rebel Army levelled the match just after the hour mark. Substitute Denzel Obenge made the most of a rare chance, with a big deflection taking the strike past Matt Turner.
The travelling City supporters were rewarded for making the trip to Ireland though with City strongly establishing their advantage again.
Firstly, Isaak Davies broke in from the left before firing clinically into the back of the net after 73 minutes. The Bluebirds scored their third of the evening three minutes later. 17-year-old Rob Tankiewicz made a smart run into the middle of the park and fired in.
Davies and Tankiewicz were enjoying their evenings and traded further goals in the 83rd and 88th minutes respectively, with young Rob’s composure for his second effort a particular delight.
City weren’t willing to settle for just five though, and forward Yousef Salech got in on the goalscoring with the final touch on the game.
FINAL SCORE: CORK CITY 1-6 CARDIFF CITY
Cork City: Odumosu, Nevin, O'Keeffe, N'Sa, Murray, Feely, Manjor-Georgewill, McGrath, Downey, Trialist, Trialist. Subs: Nash, Hallihan, McCarthy, Richmond, Kelly, Obenge, Fonseca, Daly, Peelo.
First Half: Tyrer, Kpakio, Fish, Chambers, Thomas (Moreno 32'), Turnbull, J.Colwill, Robinson, Ashford, Willock, Sykes.
Second Half: Turner, Ng, Williams, Osho, Bagan, Robertson, Tankiewicz, R.Colwill, Tanner, Davies, Salech.