It was the reason for my four day trip to Ireland and it was a ninety minutes that enabled manager Sean Dyche to get his players some more match practice as we edge ever closer to the new season.
There were no surprise names on the team sheet. We already knew that trialist Scott Arfield had made the trip along with midfielder David Jones, and the rest of the party was made up from the current squad along with youngsters Alex Coleman, Jason Gilchrist, Steven Hewitt.
Gilchrist wasn't involved and neither were Dean Marney and Junior Stanislas, both not being risked with slight problems. Joseph Mills, substituted at Morecambe and Marvin Bartley didn't make the trip.
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| First appearance for David Jones |
Again it was a night when Dyche gave everyone some game time with midfielders Arfield and Hewitt both playing a full ninety minutes and Kevin Long, a former Cork player, falling just a few minutes short.
It was only our third ever game in the Republic of Ireland, having previously at Dalymount Park in Dublin in February 1963 and February 2008 against Manchester City and Bohemians respectively.
Turner's Cross is a small ground and one of only two all seaters in the country, the other being the Aviva Stadium at Lansdowne Road, and the sizeable number of Burnley fans were eventually placed on one side of the ground.
As the home fans welcomed former player Long it was Charlie Austin who drew the biggest cheer from Burnley supporters in his first pre-season appearance since the collapse of his move to Hull.
There wasn't long to wait for the first goal. It came in just the fifth minute of the game from the hugely impressive Danny Ings. It came via a right wing move involving Austin, Kieran Trippier and Ross Wallace, another to impress.
It was Wallace who crossed left footed and Ings took the ball with his right foot to take it past a defender before planting the ball home with his left. Although not in as wide a position it was reminiscent of his goal at Birmingham last December.
It proved to be the only goal of the first half but there could have been more. Austin came close, Arfield saw a close range flick cleared off the line and Wallace's long range strike brought the best out of the home goalkeeper.
The only downside was an injury to Ben Mee that forced him off midway through the half. It has been a catalogue of injuries for the left back in 2013 and he's unlikely to be fit for Carlisle although Dyche did hint that it was nothing serious.
It was a similar pattern in the second half but just before the hour we doubled the lead. Ings went on a bursting run but allowed himself to go too wide and it looked as though any opportunity was lost. not so, he turned and got the ball back to Wallace.
He spotted the run of Arfield into the box and the pass was perfect for the trialist to get it past a defender before slotting home into the far bottom corner from a tight angle.
Dyche had made changes at half time and there were soon more to come. Luke O'Neill and George Porter were introduced five minutes after the goal and with a quarter of an hour to go there was finally some action for David Jones as he finally got out of his locker.
In the short time he was on the pitch he certainly impressed. He was always available to receive the ball and I can't recall him once giving the ball away.
But by now it was half time substitute Keith Treacy who was causing the problems. He lobbed one effort onto the top of the netting and then almost set a goal up with a good run but he wasn't to be denied or so we thought.
With five minutes remaining Michael Duff crossed from the left. Sam Vokes and Hewitt eventually managed to get the ball to Treacy who shot into the net. That's how it looked from our vantage point but we were soon hearing that the goal was being credited to Vokes.
Apparently it hit his backside and when given that information Treacy said: "It's a very big arse." Video evidence does suggest it might well have got a touch from Vokes but I'm sure had been Austin in a league game last season there would have been absolutely no doubt who the club would have given it to.
The squad returned to England on Tuesday evening and will now head up to Carlisle on Saturday, and it will be our first visit since a friendly there in 1999 when goals from Andy Cooke and Alan Lee gave us a 2-1 win.
The teams in Cork were;
Cork: Kevin Burns, John Kavanagh, Eoghan Murphy, Dan Murray, Adam Rundle, Danny Furlong, Brian Lenihan, Andy O'Connell, Stephen Kenny, Rob Lehane, Denis Behan. Subs: Ian Turner, Danny Murphy, Darren Murphy, Jason Abbott, John Dunleavy, Kalen Spillane, Garry Buckley, David Browne.
Burnley: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier (Luke O'Neill 64), Kevin Long (Alex Coleman 84), Jason Shackell (Michael Duff ht), Ben Mee (Danny Lafferty 20), Ross Wallace (George Porter 64), Brian Stock (Keith Treacy ht), Steven Hewitt, Scott Arfield, Danny Ings (David Jones 75), Charlie Austin (Sam Vokes ht). Sub not used: Nick Liversedge.
Referee: Anthony Buttimer.
Attendance: 893.