GAA: Cork...1-27 Wexford...0-12: A grossly disappointing Guinness All-Ireland hurling semi-final barely made it beyond the first quarter in its full health. By the end, the thoughts of many in a large, enthusiastic crowd had turned to pondering whether such a one-way contest would be more of a hindrance than anything else in the run-up to next month's final against Kilkenny.

At that stage there wasn't much else to occupy the mind, as the second half metamorphosed into a lifeless affair with Cork making the best of some target practice and Wexford trying to restrict the scale of the defeat to savage rather than catastrophic proportions.

For a brief period at the start of the match the contest fizzled as if it was going to approach the heights of last year's meeting between the two counties. For over five minutes there was neither a score nor a free and the ball whizzed around like a charged-up particle.

This was the style that Wexford had deployed to shock Kilkenny in June and they launched into it with gusto and verve. The only problem was that Cork didn't look unduly fazed by the rapidity of the game and eventually edged in front in the sixth minute.

For a further two minutes Wexford were level in the match; the rest of the time they trailed by ever-increasing margins.

For a side that had astutely measured up Kilkenny for the ambush two months ago, Wexford seemed short on ideas of how best to counteract their opponents' strengths. Once the motor began to splutter on attempts to baffle Cork's backs with constant movement, there didn't appear to be much of an alternative energy source.

In fact, it was Cork who made the better job of manipulating the opposition defence. Niall McCarthy did a good job pulling Declan Ruth hither and thither and creating a highway through the middle of Wexford's defence.

Down this expansive route poured Cork's centrefield, with Tom Kenny and Jerry O'Connor sharing 1-7 from play between them. This was precisely the scenario Wexford would have wanted to avoid, but they seemed powerless to prevent it.

So, instead of Adrian Fenlon's quick-trigger striking providing a platform for the forwards, it was his less-than-quick man marking that became a central influence. The Wexford veteran hurled a great deal of ball, but his forwards couldn't make much of the supply such was the superiority of the Cork defence.

Far from being dragged out of position, Ronan Curran held the middle and cleared a world of ball, frequently with the intelligence and direction to set up scoring chances.

A succession of scores took Cork steadily out of sight. From parity, 0-2 each in the ninth minute, they outscored Wexford 1-11 to 0-2 over the remainder of the first half. The goal came from Kenny, tellingly from a Curran pass. In space, lots of it, the Cork centrefielder was able to pick up momentum and round off a lengthy solo through the middle with a well-taken goal.

There could have been more, but Damien Fitzhenry produced his usual quota of goalkeeping heroics, deflecting Timmy McCarthy's close-in shot over the bar and a minute later deflecting over another shot for goal, this time from Ben O'Connor. In the second half he threw in another when getting down quickly to turn a Deane shot out for a 65.

Wexford could make no impact at the other end. Beside Curran, Seán Ó hAilpín swept meticulously across the line and discharged his more immediate duties with aplomb, blocking a ball that was Mick Jacob's and firing it in to Brian Corcoran who was fouled for a free converted by Ben O'Connor.

Increasingly, the Wexford attacks became desperate and the ball flew higher into forwards, whose forte this season has been speeding out on to quick, low ball.Facing a 12-point deficit at half-time, Wexford must have known the game was up.

The game loosened up a bit and in the spacier environment scoring opportunities were created and taken. Cork kept shooting and manager Donal O'Grady didn't relax until the final 10 minutes, sending on his quota of replacements.

There were a couple of goal opportunities at either end. Joe Deane nearly brought off a replica of his goal against Limerick four years ago when getting a touch to a well judged ball from Diarmuid O'Sullivan, who had a good match and delivered a controlled performance - his ball to Deane, for instance, instead of a thrash at a point from 100 metres.

Afterwards, O'Grady said he felt the provincial championships would be an irrelevance in a couple of years. As a step in that direction this year's All-Ireland will for the first time in either code be contested between two sides who have already been beaten this championship.

That may be the case, but there's little doubting Kilkenny and Cork are the best teams in the competition and their renewal of last year's final rivalry will be eagerly awaited.

The Leinster champions' inventory of the season isn't bad: a first Leinster championship in seven years and a prized win over Kilkenny. But they will regret not playing up to their best on the big stage and reflect uncomfortably on the fact they were more thoroughly beaten this year than in the replay with Cork 12 months ago.

The year featured improvement, but ended up in inverse order compared to the county's recent habit of struggling in Leinster and regaining momentum outside.

Manager John Conran said afterwards that his team had geared themselves towards the Leinster semi-final with Kilkenny for the previous eight months, but having succeeded in winning that, failed to maintain the momentum such an historic win gave them.

Even in the Leinster final there had been a falling-off in performance and Conran frankly admitted they had failed to halt that deceleration, let alone reverse it.

CORK: 1. D Cusack; 2. W Sherlock, 3. D O'Sullivan, 4. B Murphy; 7. S Ó hAilpín, 6. R Curran, 5. C O'Connor; 8. T Kenny (1-1), 9. J O'Connor (0-6); 10. B O'Connor (0-8, five frees, one 65), 11. N McCarthy (0-2), 12. T McCarthy (0-2); 13. K Murphy (0-1), 14. B Corcoran, 15. J Deane (0-4, one free). Subs: 22. J O'Callaghan (0-2) for Deane (61 mins), 27. JP King for T McCarthy (61 mins), 21. M O'Connell (0-1) for J O'Connor (64 mins), 17. J Browne for Sherlock (67 mins), 18. P Mulcahy for O'Sullivan (69 mins).

WEXFORD: 1. D Fitzhenry; 2. M Travers (0-1), 3. D Ryan, 4. D O'Connor; 7. J O'Connor, 6. D Ruth (0-2, free, '65), 5. R McCarthy; 8. A Fenlon, 9. T Mahon (0-2); 10. P Carley (0-2, frees), 11. E Quigley (0-1), 12. P Codd (0-2); 15. R Jacob, 14. M Jacob, 13. M Jordan (0-2). Subs: 26. D Lyng for J O'Connor (half-time), 22. K Rossiter for J O'Connor (half-time), 25. L Murphy for M Jacob (46 mins), 21. C McGrath for Carley (59 mins), 27. B Lambert for Quigley (66 mins).

Referee: B Kelly (Westmeath).