Cork hit brick wall as Clare step on gas in second half

Clare’s ambitions to claim a third consecutive Munster minor hurling crown remain intact after they swept past Cork in last night’s play-off tie in Ennis to set up a semi-final date with Limerick on June 29.

A powerful second-half display by Clare ensured they recovered successfully from last week’s opening round reversal against Waterford. The match may have been delicately poised at the interval, with the teams locked at 0-7 apiece, but Clare took over in the third quarter to register nine consecutive points that killed this game as a contest.

Indeed, Clare’s dominance was all the more noteworthy considering they had trailed 0-4 to 0-0 after 14 minutes. But they turned the game around in staggering fashion thereafter as they outscored their opponents by 0-16 to 0-3 over the next 31 minutes.