Injury-time point seals victory for Cork

Cork 2-11, Galway 2-10

The win was achieved despite playing the last five minutes with 14 men after losing outstanding full-back Stephen O’Donoghue for a second yellow card offence.

Cork gave their followers some heart-stopping moments after surrendering an eight-point lead in the second half. However, they held their nerve as Galway, in full flight after impressive Seán Armstrong had tied the game with a goal, swarmed all over Cork, only to be caught in a breakaway attack which saw Goulding become the hero with the winning point.

Cork had many stars. Full-forward Colin Weste, stepping up considerably on his Munster final form, rattled in two goals and added three points in the opening half to cap a superb first half performance. Although he faded on the changeover, he was always a threat.

Clubmate Stephen O’Donoghue never put a foot wrong at full-back and was a little unlucky to be sent off. Outside him, centre-back Eoin Cadogan was magnificent, powering forward at every opportunity.

Alan O’Connor won his share of the midfield possession with some outstanding high fielding, while Daniel Goulding, apart from his match winning point, also played a significant in one of Cork’s most exciting victories over the Connacht side in years. It was easy to understand the emotion of team coach Diarmuid O’Donovan at the end of this thrilling tie.

“We took a lot of stick after being beaten in the Munster final in Killarney, but I knew this was a very good bunch of players, and they certainly proved that out there today.

“Having Stephen O’Donoghue sent of in the last five minutes put us under enormous pressure, but Patrick Kelly did well when he went back to full-back and the five forwards worked their socks off in the closing minutes.” Cork got a dream start when Colin Weste who was on top of his game, hit the first of his two goals in the opening minute and after he pointed two frees in quick succession, he rattled the net a second time in the 12th minute after Paul Kerrigan set him up. Galway recovered well from those early goals and hit back with a succession of points to be just three adrift after 20 minutes.

However, the Cork attack gave the Galway defence a right roasting and at half-time, they were well worth their 2-6 to 0-6 lead, Weste contributing 2-3 of his side’s tally.

Cork stretched their lead to eight points early in the second half before Galway made a couple of positional switches which worked well for them, the most significant being the placing of Seán Armstrong at left corner-forward and in the space of 12 minutes, Cork’s lead was wiped out after Shane Hogan goaled and Armstrong added 1-2 to tie the game for the first time.

Galway were rampant and only some magnificent defending by Cadogan and Gearóid O’Shea prevented Cork from falling behind before disaster struck for the Munster side when O’Donoghue was sent off.

However, Goulding set up an All-Ireland semi-final clash with Dublin with the match-winning point.

Scorers for Cork: C. Weste 2-4 (0-4 frees); D. Goulding 0-3; B. Cotter, P. Kerrigan, P. Kelly, J. Hayes (free) 0-1 each. Galway: S. Armstrong 1-4 (0-2 frees); S. Hogan 1-3 (0-3 frees); R. Hogan 0-2; A. Callinan 0-1.

CORK: J. Down; C. Barrett, S. O’Donoghue, N. Horgan; M. Shields, E. Cadogan, G. O’Shea; A. O’Connor, P. Kelly; J. Hayes, F. Gould, B. Cotter; D. Goulding, C. Weste, P. Kerrigan. Subs. J. Shanahann for Hayes; S. Bermingham for Cotter; P. Murphy for Barrett; J. O’Sullivan for Kerrigan.

GALWAY: B. Donnellan; K. McGrath, F. Hanley, M. Flannery; N. Coyne, O.

Kelly, T. Goggins; N. Coleman, C. Blake; A. Callanan, R. Hogan, C. De Paor; S. Hogan, S. Armstrong, J. Canney. Subs. F. Breathnach for Canney; J. Bradshaw for Coyne; J. Meehan for De Paor; E. Heneghan for Blake.

Referee, S. Doyle (Wexford).