Cork 1-27
Dublin 2-23
The house always wins. Dublin hurlers, for all of their progress in the past few years, occasionally play as if they’re waiting to get caught by the apparently immutable hierarchies of hurling.
Here they led Cork virtually from gun to tape and that advantage was a fair reflection of what was happening on the field, but then, just as they eyeball the tape, they’re beaten.
Cork dug in and kept in touch but by the 65th minute they still trailed by six, 0-22 to 1-22. A goal by replacement Paudie O’Sullivan halved the deficit and the market run on Dublin was such that it cost them seven points – 0-1 to 1-5.
The final score, slotted over emphatically by Séamus Harnedy, came after Peter Kelly had blocked a shot by Anthony Spillane, but the ball ran for Conor Lehane who picked out Harnedy and that was that.
Cork manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy acknowledged his anxiety at Dublin’s re-establishing of a seven-point lead in the last 10 minutes after the margin had been cut to four and before O’Sullivan’s goal threw everything back in the melting pot.
‘Thundered’
“Then they got it back to seven again and I thought we were in trouble again, but in fairness to our lads, Aidan Walsh thundered into the game, Rob O’Shea was outstanding at midfield I thought, and got on a lot of ball, and the whole pitch of the game changed when we got the goal.
“I thought our lads grew in confidence and just about deserved it, probably lucky to win in fairness. You couldn’t say Dublin deserved to lose or anything like it, far from it.”
There were some positives for Dublin. After all, in Croke Park last month they were beaten by the same opposition by 11 points, conceding a record 34 points, but when you’ve led at one stage by 0-12 it can be hard to see the benefits.
Second setback
Manager Ger Cunningham, reflecting on this second setback against his own county, dismissed however any view that the defeat would be particularly psychologically difficult for his team to process.
“No, not at all. How many times have we seen a situation where people lose big leads? You get a goal and the impact – the wind today was a factor – they had momentum with a couple of points here and there.
“The goal was probably the turning point of the game. It brought them right back into the game, we came back and got a point but a couple of things at the end, maybe our decision-making wasn’t the best. I’d have no worries about that.”
Lehane’s second-minute score gave Cork a short-lived lead before Mark Schutte linked with Liam Rushe and scored a goal to give Dublin a lead they never lost until the last minute of normal time. The winners for their part led for no more than seconds over the 70 minutes but their timing was spot-on.
There were many contrasts with the Croke Park drubbing during the divisional fixtures, but the one constant was that Patrick Horgan again played the key role in firstly keeping Cork in touch and then in closing the gap.
His 17 points were overwhelmingly from placed balls and the barrage didn’t even start until the 20th minute – meaning he finished the last 50 minutes averaging more than a score every three minutes.
In the first half Dublin were immensely strong in winning the ball – Conal Keaney had an exceptional afternoon under the dropping ball – driving two of them back over the Cork bar, although Lehane also floated over four points in his company – and their score taking was confident.
Rushe was busy and physical in the half forwards and Ryan was accurate from frees, while David Treacy and David O’Callaghan sniped productively. The latter weaved his way in from the right wing in the 19th minute and eventually stuck the ball in the net for the zenith of Dublin’s day, 2-9 to 0-3.
Schutte nearly got in for a third but Anthony Nash blocked. Horgan’s frees got Cork’s scoreboard moving and he could have rotated the digits a bit faster had his hand-pass to Luke O’Farrell not been intercepted by Peter Kelly just after half an hour. Dublin weren’t, however, just sitting back and led at the break 2-15 to 0-12.
Cork’s second-half improvements featured a tightening up in defence.
Aidan Walsh, posted to centre back at the start, got to the pitch of the match and, on top of his defensive work, whipped over a big point of his own in the 58th minute.
Dublin played their part with some loose shooting but looked to have weathered the worst of it when, as Barry-Murphy said, they reeled off three points, from replacement Ben Quinn, a free by Ryan and Rushe, in as many minutes around the hour mark.
Frustrated
Dublin were frustrated by hitting two shots while playing advantage only to lose it just as the ball sailed wide. Kelly won a couple of great possessions in the closing moments only to attempt passes to tightly marked players, which ended in line balls.
Both teams made changes before the start. Cork ruled out Mark Ellis with a virus and Cormac Murphy with an injury. They were replaced by William Kearney and Bill Cooper, while Dublin’s Danny Sutcliffe tweaked a hamstring in the warm-up and his place was taken by Paul Ryan.
Cork take on Waterford in a re-run of the 1998 league final, which yielded Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s first silverware as county manager.
CORK: Anthony Nash; Shane O’Neill, Damien Cahalane, William Kearney; Lorcán McLoughlin, Aidan Walsh (0-1), Stephen McDonnell; Daniel Kearney, Rob O’Shea; Conor Lehane (0-4), Seamus Harnedy (0-3), Bill Cooper; Alan Cadogan (0-1), Luke O’Farrell (0-1), Patrick Horgan (0-17, 13 frees, one 65). Subs: Brian Lawton for Harnedy (temp, 15-16 mins); Paudie O’Sullivan (1-0) for Cadogan (51 mins); Anthony Spillane for O’Farrell (63 mins); Lawton for D Kearney (67 mins).
DUBLIN: Gary Maguire; Cian O’Callaghan, Peter Kelly, Paul Schutte; Shane Durkin, Chris Crummy, Conal Keaney (0-2); Johnny McCaffrey (0-2), Niall McMorrow; Paul Ryan (0-7, four frees), Liam Rushe (0-3), Ryan O’Dwyer; David O’Callaghan (1-3), Mark Schutte (1-3), David Treacy (0-2). Subs: Ben Quinn (0-1) for McCaffrey (54 mins); Colm Cronin for Ryan O’Dwyer (62 mins); Oisín O’Rorke for Treacy (67 mins).
Referee: James Owens (Wexford)
