Cork 0-26
Dublin 0-21
JOHNNY CAROLAN REPORTS
THE RESULT was better than the performance as Cork secured a first All-Ireland SHC semi-final spot since 2021 with victory over Dublin at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
Not unlike the win over Offaly in the preliminary quarter-final the previous week, Cork had too much quality and scoring power for their opponents but the display was not at the level of the pulsating Munster SHC wins over Limerick and Tipperary in May.
Cork's Alan Connolly heads for goal as Dublin's Paddy Doyle is determined to halt his progress.
However, having opened their campaign with defeats to Waterford and Clare leaving them on the brink of elimination, Cork are hurling into July and manager Pat Ryan highlighted the importance of that.
‘We’re delighted to be in the semi-finals,’ he said, ‘we’d have bitten your hand off for that after the Clare game.
‘Huge congratulations to the players, we got a huge challenge from Dublin outside there. It probably wasn’t the best of hurling but, look, we dug out a win, a whole-panel win, lots of fellas came on and gave us a bit of pride off it.
‘Obviously, we had a small bit of sickness going around the squad, which didn’t help as well. We’ll try to get fellas right and hopefully be ready to go (for the All-Ireland semi-final against Limerick).’
A potential factor in the lack of general zip about the game was the fact that it began at 1.15pm on a Saturday afternoon.
‘I suppose it was a bit dead,’ Ryan said.
‘That was the same for both of us, with wides and stuff like that. But, look, it was the same for both teams. I think you could see, it’s very hard to have a really high-standard match at quarter past one on a Saturday and that’s what we saw.’
While Cork trailed in the opening stages, once they got on top and established a five-point half-time lead, they never looked like being denied, especially as Dublin found goal opportunities hard to come by.
The Leinster side – whose previous outing was a 16-point loss to Kilkenny in the provincial final – were not helped by a tally of 16 wides, with free-taker Donal Burke finding the going tough while Danny Sutcliffe got little change out of Eoin Downey.
Cork, with Luke Meade coming in at midfield as Ciarán Joyce moved to centre-back due to Robert Downey crying off injured, were not free of some poor shooting of their own but did enough.
They might have even had a settling goal in the opening minutes as Shane Barrett’s driving run yielded a chance but Eoghan O’Donnell made a great block to deny Patrick Horgan. While Seán Currie had Dublin 0-6 to 0-5 in front, it was the final time they led. A Barrett interception allowed Fitzgibbon to set Horgan up to level and then the veteran attacker made it 0-7 to 0-6, Declan Dalton the provider before profiting from a good Patrick Collins to open up the first two-point lead of the game.
By half-time, Cork were 0-15 to 0-10 in front – the last two points of the half were scored by Brian Hayes, one for each of the Cork and Dublin version – and Cork added four more on the resumption to solidify their grip.
Even so, they never fully put Dublin away, with Seán Currie taking over the placed-ball duties and reducing the deficit somewhat, but Cork were always able to respond and sub Robbie O’Flynn helped himself to a pair of points.
As the clock wound down, Dublin searched for goals – sub Ronan Hayes shot wide and Diarmuid Ó Dúlaing drew a good save from Patrick Collins. At the other end, Seán Brennan similarly denied Dalton a goal that would have capped a fine display from him.
The bottom line was that Cork advanced.
‘We could have tacked on another couple of scores, just to make it easier for ourselves,’ Ryan said, ‘and we were a bit sloppy around the place.
‘We probably made one or two wrong decisions, when they were coming at us with puckouts and just moving the ball. That’s something we’ll work on and we’ve two weeks; there’s a small bit of recovery there now too.
‘In fairness to Dublin, they play a very good running game and it’s hard to get traction at times and they shoot from distance. It becomes a bit congested and a bit unorthodox, really, for want of a better word.
‘It made it a bit harder for our fellas to settle into the game and get their hands on the ball but we still put up a good score and we’ll build (for Limerick).’
Scorers
Cork: Patrick Horgan 0-10 (7f); Declan Dalton 0-6 (3f); Darragh Fitzgibbon, Séamus Harnedy, Shane Barrett, Robbie O’Flynn 0-2 each; Brian Hayes, Luke Meade 0-1 each.
Dublin: Seán Currie 0-7 (4f); Conor Burke 0-4; Chris Crummey, Donal Burke (1f) 0-3 each; Brian Hayes 0-2; Darragh Power, Paddy Doyle 0-1 each.
Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Eoin Downey, Seán O’Donoghue; Tim O’Mahony, Ciarán Joyce, Mark Coleman; Luke Meade, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Declan Dalton, Shane Barrett, Séamus Harnedy; Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes.
Subs: Tommy O’Connell for Meade, Shane Kingston for Harnedy (both 49), Ger Millerick for Fitzgibbon (59), Robbie O’Flynn for Hayes (61), Conor Lehane for Connolly (68).
Dublin: Seán Brennan; John Bellew, Eoghan O’Donnell, Paddy Smyth; Chris Crummey, Conor Donohoe, Daire Gray; Conor Burke, Mark Grogan; Brian Hayes, Donal Burke, Darragh Power; Seán Currie, Danny Sutcliffe, Paul Crummey.
Subs: Ronan Hayes for Paul Crummey (44-70+4, temporary), Paddy Doyle for Gray (48), Diarmaid Ó Dúlaing for Grogan (54), James Madden for Donohoe (59), Fergal Whiteley for Hayes (64).
Referee: Michael Kennedy (Tipperary).
