Cork 1-20 Clare 1-8
Cork advance to the Munster SFC final, having dismissed Clare with a clinical display in today’s semi-final in Pairc Ui Rinn.
The game almost had a sensational start, Clare captain Gary Brennan careering through only to blaze wide when going for goal, and Clare were impressive early on. They hit good points through Brennan and Dean Ryan, with Brian O’Driscoll hitting two in response for Cork.
With Donncha O’Connor roving outfield for Cork and Clare withdrawing their wing-forwards, the middle third of the field was quite congested, unsurprisingly, but after ten minutes the home side settled, with their half-backs pushing up on Clare, and started to take their scores. Clare had hit four wides at that point and Cork’s greater economy, hitting six points and no wides by the end of the first quarter, had them four points up.
The Banner needed a brave stop by ‘keeper Joe Hayes from Conor Dorman to keep them in touch, though play was whistled back for an earlier infringement, but at this point Cork were dominating in all areas, with Alan O’Connor catching the eye by linking the play in midfield, and Clare needed two points, from Brennan and Cathal O’Connor, to keep Cork in sight. However Colm O’Neill hit two good frees before half-time to make it Cork 0-10 to Clare’s 0-4.
Clare drove at Cork on the resumption but hit three poor wides, including a Keelan Sexton goal effort, before Donncha O’Connor, Paul Kerrigan, Colm O’Neill and Mark Collins made it 0-14 to 0-4 ten minutes into the second half, more or less ending the game as a contest.
Cathal O’Connor managed a goal for Clare on 53 minutes, but Donncha O’Connor converted a penalty expertly five minutes later to restore Cork’s advantage.
Teams and scores:
Scorers for Cork: D. O’Connor 1-5 (1-0 p, 0-3 fs); C. O’Neill 0-5 (0-3 fs); Brian O’Driscoll, M. Collins, P. Kerrigan, J. Hayes (0-1 f) 0-2 each; B. Hurley, F. Goold 0-1 each.
Scorers for Clare: C. O’Connor 1-2 (0-1 45); G. Brennan 0-2; J. Malone, P. Burke, D. Ryan and D. O’Halloran 0-1 each.
CORK: K. O’Halloran, J. Loughrey, M. Shields (c), S. Cronin, C. Dorman, Brian O’Driscoll, Barry O’Driscoll, A. O’Connor, K. O’Driscoll, C. O’Driscoll, M. Collins, P. Kerrigan, C. O’Neill, D. O’Connor, B. Hurley.
Subs: P. Kelly for Hurley, 48; R Deane for A. O’Connor, 53 and F. Goold for C. O’Driscoll, both 53; T. Clancy (Fermoy) for Dorman, 56; J. Hayes for D. O’Connor, 59; P. Kelleher for O’Neill, 67.
CLARE: J. Hayes, C. Russell, K. Hartnett, M. McMahon, S. Hickey, G. Kelly, D. Ryan, G. Brennan (c), C. O’Connor, K. Sexton, J. Malone, S. Collins, P. Burke, R. Donnelly, E. Cleary.
Subs: C. Dunning for Donnelly, HT, C. O’Dea for E. Cleary 52; D. O’Halloran for P. Burke, 56.
Referee: J. McQuillan (Cavan).