Cork 2-13 Dublin 2-6 IMPRESSIVE CORK ended Dublin's 100 per cent record in emphatic fashion on Saturday night at Páirc Uí Rinn. A couple of cracking first-half goals from Daniel Goulding and Paul Kerrigan provided the inspiration for the home side, who responded ideally to the previous week's setback in Tyrone.
A crowd of just under 5,000 watched the championship-type fare which saw Cork leading by 2-8 to 1-5 at the break.
“We needed a reaction to last week’s defeat and we got that. We came in with a bit of attitude tonight. There was great pace and intensity to the game in the first-half. The goals gave us the cushion which stood to us afterwards. It opened it up for us and probably knocked a bit of the heart out of Dublin,” said coach Conor Counihan.
Cork’s victory was achieved without the influential Pearse O’Neill, who withdrew before the game, and his replacement Derek Kavanagh enjoyed a fruitful outing, underlining the huge strength in depth in the panel.
And even the ninth-minute departure of Nicholas Murphy with another hamstring injury didn’t deter the home side, who summoned the precocious Ciaran Sheehan, and he revelled in his unexpectedly early introduction, scoring two fine points.
Goulding struck first in the 12th minute finishing off impressive approach work from Fintan Goold, Kerrigan and Alan O’Connor to score from close range.
Dublin’s tactics involved leaving Bernard Brogan and Kevin McManamon close to goal, shadowed by Eoin Cadogan and Ray Carey respectively in exciting match-ups, and delivering the ball in swiftly. It paid rich dividends nine minutes later. Ross McConnell went route one with a high ball which was well won by McManamon and he had too much strength for Carey, hitting the net with a low shot to make it 1-5 to 1-3 for Cork.
Cork hit back within five minutes, though, Paddy Kelly creating the opportunity with some brilliant footwork for Kerrigan to claim his fourth goal of the campaign in a devastating three-minute spell which yielded 1-2.
And yet for all their dominance it needed a fine save from goalkeeper Paddy O’Shea to deny McManamon a second goal just before the break.
Dublin manager Pat Gilroy criticised his side’s approach for the six points interval deficit. “We just couldn’t live with them in the first half. Our workrate simply wasn’t good enough. If you do that against a side of Cork’s quality they will kill you. We were also very naive in the things we did.”
The second-half was a dull affair as Dublin battened down the hatches by withdrawing players behind the ball in an attempt to close the space for Cork’s attack.
In a low-scoring period Cork edged it by 0-5 to 1-1, an indictment of the poor quality on display. Dublin frustrated Cork and when the outstanding Bernard Brogan pounced for an opportunist goal, following Eamon Fennell’s probing pass in the 47th minute, the lead was just four points, 2-9 to 2-5.
But Cork made sure of the spoils with a late flurry of scores from Goulding, O’Connor and Kerrigan before sub Conal Keaney pointed a free for the visitors.
CORK:P O'Shea; R Carey, E Cadogan, E Cotter; N O'Leary, M Shields, P Kissane; A O'Connor (0-1), D Kavanagh (0-2); F Goold, J Hayes, P Kelly (0-2); D Goulding (1-4, two from frees), N Murphy, P Kerrigan (1-2). Subs:C Sheehan (0-2) for Murphy (inj 8 mins), S Kiely for O'Leary (62 mins), C O'Driscoll for Kissane (65 mins), B O'Regan for Cotter (67), F Lynch for Goold (68).
DUBLIN:M Savage; P Conlon, M Fitzsimons, P McMahon; H Gill, C O'Sullivan, G Brennan; E Fennell (0-1), R McConnell; A Hubbard (0-1), M McAuley, P Flynn; D Henry, B Brogan (1-2), K McManamon (1-1). Subs:K Nolan for Brennan 30 mins, D Kelly for McAuley half-time, D Magee for McConnell 43 mins, C Keeney (0-1 free) for Flynn 47 mins, McAuley for Fennell 62 mins
Referee:P McEnaney (Monaghan)
