Chris Forrester made a goalscoring return to Ireland as he scored the only goal of the game to give Aberdeen victory against Cobh Ramblers.
All three summer signings featured for the Dons with January signing Mikey Devlin also playing for an hour in his first appearance since May 2017.
Dons boss Derek McInnes handed starting roles to new signings Lewis Ferguson and Devlin while Stevie May and Sam Cosgrove were not risked due to niggling injuries with their first appearances of the summer scheduled for Wednesday against Falkirk at Arbroath.
The game was played three 30 minute periods to allow the players on both sides to have water breaks in the heat and the temperature was nearing 30 degrees by kick-off.
The Dons came close to an early opener through captain Graeme Shinnie but the captain’s side-footed effort was saved by Ramblers goalkeeper Adam Mylod.
Mikey Devlin also came close to opening his account on his debut but he headed Frank Ross’s corner wide before Lewis Ferguson saw his shot blocked.
With no goal in the first period the Dons increased the tempo for the second half hour and Adam Rooney had a penalty claim turned down when he dispossessed the Ramblers central defender before driving into the box where he was tripped as he went to shoot.
The Dons kept the pressure on the hosts and Rooney hit the post with a header before Niall McGinn saw his header flash just wide.
Aberdeen’s perseverance paid off at the start of the final period when substitute Chris Forrester opened his account for the club, side-footing the ball past substitute Michael Sadys after Shinnie had rolled the ball into his path on the edge of the box.
