All-Ireland SHC semi-final (FT): Cork 7-26 Dublin 2-21 (report)
“The cliche about goals winning matches may sound a bit obvious after the first All-Ireland semi-final but Cork unleashed some serious firepower to overwhelm an outclassed Dublin,” Nicky English writes of Cork’s triumph.
Read his full take on the game below:
[ Nicky English: Cork outclassed Dublin to show favourites tag is well deservedOpens in new window ]
After the win, Cork manager Pat Ryan tried to make sure his side and their supporters didn’t get ahead of themselves, only for Dublin manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin to undo it all with his praise, along with an honest view of his own performance:
[ Pat Ryan pours cold water but the Cork hype train has left the stationOpens in new window ]
And lastly, Denis Walsh has focused in on the magic offered up by Alan Connolly, who managed 3-2 for Cork.
"Connolly, (Brian) Hayes and (Patrick) Horgan scored 5-5 from play, an overwhelming total that floored Dublin. But below the surface they had a direct involvement in 10 other scores. Five of Cork’s goals involved Connolly: two with the final pass, three with the final touch."
Read the piece in full below:
[ Alan Connolly comes of age in pitch-perfect Cork full-forward lineOpens in new window ]
Seán Moran’s match report has landed:
“Initially, the All-Ireland semi-final weekend was seen as a great festival of hurling and some elemental matches took place, as teams fought for a final place. This evening in Croke Park was a bitterly disappointing shadow of such occasions.
That’s not to cast blame or aspersions on the teams. Cork turned up and did what they had to do whereas Dublin fought and
flailed, trying to do what they could not – keep a lid on the relentless Munster champions and somehow drag the match back into the outer confines of a contest," he writes from Croke Park.
Read his report in full below:
[ Rip-roaring Rebels return to All-Ireland final after Dublin demolitionOpens in new window ]
That’s all from me for the evening. Stay tuned for Seán Moran’s match report from Croke Park and some reaction and analysis from Denis Walsh and Nicky English.
FULL-TIME: Cork 7-26 Dublin 2-21. So that’s that. Cork are through to the All-Ireland final, beating Dublin by 20 points. Whatever the hype was going to be, scoring 7-26 isn’t going to do much to dampen it. They will be favourite in the final, regardless of who wins tomorrow. They were sublime here. Sublime.
72 mins: Substitute Jack O’Connor dips his beak from under the Cusack Stand. Cork 7-26 Dublin 2-21
Four minutes of injury-time. Ah here.
66 mins: GOAL for Cork! And that’s Connolly’s hat-trick. They might hit 50 points here. Cork 7-25 Dublin 2-20
64 mins: Shane Kingston has whipped two points since coming on a few minutes ago. Conor Lehane knocks over his first off the bench as well. Cork have no notion of letting up here. Cork 6-25 Dublin 2-19
61 mins: Cian O’Sullivan has played his part, in fairness. That’s 2-4 he’s scored in a team that is getting an unmerciful hammering. Cork 6-22 Dublin 2-19
58 mins: Deccie Dalton from downtown. Cork are enjoying themselves now. Horgan came off to roars and chants from every corner of the ground just now. They’re feeling it. Cork 6-20 Dublin 2-18
50 mins: GOAL for Cork. Dublin messed about and didn’t clear their lines and it all ends with Tim O’Mahony scooping one-handed into the net. Killer mistakes. Cork 6-17 Dublin 2-17
48 mins: Currie pots another free. Hetherton swings over a point. Dublin have 2-17 on the board and there’s not even 50 minutes gone. It would be decent scoring against anyone else. Cork 5-17 Dublin 2-17
46 mins: GOAL for Dublin. A quick free from Currie feeds Cian O’Sullivan. Nicely done. They need way more of those. Cork 5-17 Dublin 2-15
41 mins: GOAL for Cork. So easy. Horgan picks out Tim O’Mahony with a lovely revers pass and this is a rout. Cork 5-16 Dublin 1-13
40 mins: Fergal Whitely and Sean Currie have led the Dublin resistance and they combine for Dublin’s first point of the second half. But Cork hit back with a simple Hoggy free. Cork 4-16 Dublin 1-13
36 mins: Donal Burke on at half-time for Dublin. Rian McBride off. Cork draw first blood, Horgan flicking a point after 20 seconds. Cork 4-14 Dublin 1-12
Full house in Croke Park. Must be well over 60,000 Cork people here.
The Dublin full-back line will need a cold compress and a lie down in a darkened room after that. Cork are dropping Tim O’Mahony back in front of Rob Downey everytime Dublin have the ball coming out of defence, just to offer a bit of protection. The Dublin full-back line, by contrast, are being fed to the wolves. Horgan, Connolly and Hayes are filling their boots. Conor McHugh and Andy Dunphy are already back on the bench but this might get worse before it gets better for Dublin.
Half-time: Cork 4-13 Dublin 1-12. Seán Currie ends the scoring with a free for Dublin. That was the first catch of the day for John Hetherton. He got bottled up and fouled and Currie sends them to the dressing rooms. Cork 4-13 Dublin 1-12
32 mins: GOAL for Cork. Ah, that’s class from Horgan. He tips and taps a pass to Connolly, who flicks it over his head to Hayes. That’s a monstrous half from Cork. Cork 4-11 Dublin 1-11
30 mins: Dalton hits back for Cork but Cian O’Sullivan cuts it back to five again. Horgan settles Cork with a brilliant point from the left. Dublin 1-11 Cork 3-11
27 mins: Dublin are hanging in there. A couple of Cork wides and now Dublin have a free to make it three points in a row at the other end. Whitely is giving Cork real trouble here and Fitzgibbon fouls him. Currie ices the free and the gap is down to five. Dublin 1-10 Cork 3-9
22 mins: Patrick Horgan has a new man on him - David Lucey has replaced Dunphy. That’s a harsh enough foul called against the Dublin in sub but Horgan doesn’t care. He taps it over and it’s an eight-point lead. Dublin 1-7 Cork 3-9
17 mins: GOAL for Dublin! Cian O’Sullivan finds the top corner after a lovely crossfield pass from Currie. Brian Hayes follows up with a point from midfield and the gap is down to five. But Cork hit back with points from Darragh Fitzgibbon and Dalton. Insane scoring levels here. Dublin 1-6 Cork 3-8
14 mins: GOAL from Cork. Oh wow, what a goal that is. Tim O’Mahony skated in along the endline, tapped it indei for Connolly, who flicked it to the net. Dublin 0-5 Cork 3-5
14 mins: GOAL for Cork. Alan Connolly puts Cork seven ahead. It was set up by Hayes who laid it off to him on the run and Brennan had no chance. Dublin need to hang on here. Dublin 0-5 Cork 2-5
11 mins: The place is buzzing now. Tim O’Mahony and Patrick Horgan (two) hit back with points for Cork, both of Hoggy’s from a free. Andy Dunphy is in the book for the first foul on Horgan. Four between them now. Dublin 0-4 Cork 1-5
7 mins: GOAL for Cork. What a lovely finish from Brian Hayes. Dalton put him through, steaming off the shoulder, he took a tap on his hurler and finished in the same movement. But Dublin hit back with two points in the space of 20 seconds! Both from Fergal Whitely. Great response. Dublin 0-4 Cork 1-2
5 mins: Dublin are launching it long every chance they get. That one drops down between Sean Curria and Niall O’Leary. The ref calls a free for Currie and that’s a leveller. Dublin 0-2 Cork 0-2
3 mins: HUGE free from Declan Dalton, close to his own 45. Cork win the puck-out and feed Brian Hayes and that’s a rat-a-tat turnaround. Dublin 0-1 Cork 0-2
1 min: Cian O’Sullivan opens the scoring after 12 seconds for Dublin. Set up by Brian Hayes. Dublin 0-1 Cork 0-0
Parade time. There is a monumental Cork crowd here. The Cusack stand must be 90 per cent red. Great atmosphere.
Don’t think the wind will be an issue. It seems to be blowing down towards the Hill but as Dublin goalie Seán Brennan practices his puck-outs in the warm-up, he’s easily landing them in the small arc in front of the Canal End goal.
Seán Moran sets the scene from the top floor of the Hogan Stand...
“Croke Park is filling up nicely before the first match of the All-Ireland hurling semi-finals weekend, bringing together favourites and Munster champions Cork and Dublin, who sensationally eliminated Limerick in the quarter-finals.
“The big question is whether Dublin can back up that extraordinary performance, achieved with only 14 men in the red-card absence of captain Chris Crummey, who is now suspended.
“The Cork crowd, a sizeable majority of an anticipated capacity attendance, erupts to welcome Pat Ryan’s team onto the field. There are no late changes.
“Dublin manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin makes one change to his team, bringing in quarter-final super sub, John Hetherton in place of Darragh Power. A goal and a goal assist in about 30 seconds, was the St Vincent’s full forward’s contribution two weeks ago.
“Ó Ceallacháin will be calculating that the potential impact off the bench will be outweighed by the trouble Hetherton might cause for Cork full back Eoin Downey.”
Both teams are out of the dressing rooms now and going through their warm-ups. Cork stayed inside a few minutes longer than Dublin. Huge roar for them. But the Dubs on the Hill are holding their own. Or making a decent fist of it anyway.
John Hetherton starts for Dublin instead of Darragh Power. Cork unchanged, as Pat Ryan said they’d be.
Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Eoin Downey, Sean O’Donoghue; Ciarán Joyce, Rob Downey , Mark Coleman; Tim O’Mahony, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Diarmuid Healy, Shane Barrett, Declan Dalton; Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes.
Subs: Brion Saunderson, Damien Cahalane, Ger Millerick, Tommy O’Connell, Ethan Twomey, Luke Meade, Brian Roche, Jack O’Connor, Shane Kingston, Robbie O’Flynn, Conor Lehane.
Dublin: Seán Brennan; John Bellew, Paddy Smyth, Conor McHugh; Paddy Doyle, Conor Burke, Andrew Dunphy; Conor Donohoe, Brian Hayes; Rian McBride, Fergal Whitely, John Hetherton; Seán Currie, Ronan Hayes, Cian O’Sullivan.
Subs: Eddie Gibbons, Donal Burke, Colin Currie, Paddy Dunleavy, Daire Gray, Darragh Power, AJ Murphy, David Lucey, Paul O’Dea, Diarmaid O’Dulaing, Conal Ó Riain.
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)
It’s fairly hot here today, so much so that there’s a member of the groundstaff with a hose spraying water along the sideline next to the Cusack Stand right now. Given the amount of players who were slipping and sliding all over the place during the football quarter-finals weekend, I’m not sure how wise that is. Amateur agronomist that I am...
The stadium is starting to fill up now. At a conservative guess, I’d say 80 per cent of the jerseys are red. This will surely be the biggest Cork crowd there has ever been at a match.
It’s a curious game to preview, this. On the face of it, Cork are worthy favourites and it will be a huge shock if there’s any result other than a win for Pat Ryan’s men. On the other, would it be as big a shock as the one Dublin have already pulled off against Limerick? Nowhere near. Dublin are fancied by no one but if they can reproduce the fight, skills and stickability they showed when they were down to 14 men against Limerick, they can make a real game of it.
Seán Moran’s big match preview is here.
[ Cork anxiously expectant as Dublin emerge from the shadowsOpens in new window ]
Here are the teams Dublin and Cork have announced for the game. They’re subject to change, obviously enough. that said, Pat Ryan made a point during the week of railing ever so slightly against the notion of dummy teams so we can be fairly sure that Cork will line out as is.
