Young aces come up trumps for Cork

“VERY happy,” declared Cork manager Gerald McCarthy following last night’s senior hurling challenge win over Waterford, “especially in the circumstances in which we found ourselves.

“A lot of championship matches this weekend which left us a bit depleted, but the lads who came in hurled very well — we’re very, very happy.”

He had every reason to be. Shorn of seven of their chosen starting 15, against a Waterford side which wasn’t far off full championship strength, a power-packed second-half display from Cork saw them coast to victory in front of a bumper crowd at the fantastic new Mallow GAA complex at Carrigoon.

And before settling into an account of the game itself, it’s worth recording what GAA President Nickey Brennan said in his ribbon-cutting speech. “In all my time as uachtarán, and in the ten months remaining, I have never opened a more impressive facility than this, nor will I.”

On a perfect evening for hurling, on a sod to rival Semple Stadium, the opening quarter was a very even affair, the sides deadlocked at 0-6 apiece after 17 minutes.

Waterford were actually the more impressive side in that period, youngster Gary Hurney giving stand-in Cork full-back John Gardiner all sorts of problems, with corner-forwards John Mullane and Shane Casey also looking sharp for the Decies.

Gradually, however, the Cork half-forward line and half-back line came to grips with the puck-outs, midfielder Jerry O’Connor and his new partner, Newtownshandrum team-mate Cathal Naughton, came storming into the game, and the contest began to even out.

On the Cork side it was mostly the newcomers who were catching the eye. Jack Herlihy was doing well to limit the dangerous Casey, wing-back Tomás Murray was outplaying John O’Gorman, while up in attack, Fintan O’Leary was working hard, and scored Cork’s sixth point in that quarter to tie the game.

It was in the central positions, however, that Cork really excelled, and Ciarán McGann got the better of no less an opponent than Waterford captain Micheál ‘Brick’ Walsh in a storming display of centre-back play, while Kevin Canty was in a one hell of a battle with Ken McGrath, a battle thoroughly enjoyed by Gerald Mac, who knows a thing or two about centre-forward play himself.

“Both Ciarán and Kevin were superb,” he said, “But I thought Kevin’s battle with Ken McGrath was one of the highlights of the match, and I felt Kevin came out on top in that.”

Cork needed to do something in that second half because for the final 15 minutes before the break it was almost all Waterford, a string of points conceded by a sloppy Cork defence leaving the score 0-12 to 0-7 in favour of the visitors, Cork with a lot do to. One of the major issues they had to address was the concession of scoreable frees; eight points Waterford midfielder Dave Bennett notched in that first-half, every one of those from placed balls.

The second half though was a different story. It took ten minutes of tit-for-tat, four points apiece (Mullane, Nurney and two more frees from Bennett, in reply to points from O’Leary, half-time substitute Niall McCarthy and two from Cork free-taker Ben O’Connor), before Cork finally began to break free.

It started with a goal, the first of the game, Canty pouncing on the rebound of a Martin Coleman penalty after full-forward Kieran ‘Fraggy’ Murphy was brought down by Aidan Kearney.

A few minutes later ‘Fraggy’ himself landed a fine point from the wing, before a goal in the 50th minute gave Cork the lead for the first time, 2-12 to 0-16.

It started with a storming run out of defence by McGann, before the alert O’Leary first-timed a rocket to the net. It gave Cork an advantage they would never relinquish and a sequence of fine points, one finer than the last, saw them run out comfortable winners.

Waterford did manage a goal, per Shane O’Sullivan, but, despite a raft of changes, Cork managed to up the ante again and finished with points from Kieran ‘Fraggy’ Murphy (set up by namesake Kieran ‘Hero’ Murphy, superb skill by both), with the flying Cathal Naughton having the last word.

With old stagers like Gardiner (after he settled), Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, the O’Connor twins and Joe Deane all looking sharp, a profitable evening for Gerald McCarthy and his side; for Justin McCarthy, however, a lot of work to do to replace the likes of Dan Shanahan and Eoin Kelly in attack and Eoin Murphy in defence.

Scorers: Cork: F. O’Leary 1-2; B. O’Connor 0-5 (0-4 frees); C. Naughton 0-4; K. Canty 1-0; K. Murphy (Sars) 0-2; J. Deane 0-2; N. McCarthy 0-2; J. O’Connor, P. Goold, 0-1 each. Waterford: D. Bennett 0-11 (all frees); S. O’Sullivan 1-0; J. Mullane 0-2; G. Hurney 0-2; S. Casey, S. Prendergast, E. McGrath, 0-1 each.

CORK: M. Coleman; J. O’Herlihy, J. Gardiner (C), S. O’Neill; T. Murray, C. McGann, S. Óg Ó hAilpín; J. O’Connor, C. Naughton; F. O’Leary, K. Canty, B. O’Connor; D. O’Callaghan, K. Murphy, J. Deane.

Subs: N. McCarthy (O’Callaghan 35); R. Clifford (Deane 55); P. Goold (O’Leary 57); K. Murphy (Erin’s Own, J. O’Connor 63).

WATERFORD: C. Hennessey; B. Phelan, K. Moran, A. Kearney; W. Hutchinson, K. McGrath, J. Kennedy; S. O’Sullivan, D. Bennett; S. Prendergast, M. Walsh (c), J. O’Gorman; J. Mullane, G. Hurney, S. Casey.

Subs: R. Foley (Hutchinson 28); E. McGrath (Casey 51); T. Browne (Foley 53); S. Walsh (Bennett 66); D. Coffey (Kearney 69).

Referee: D. Murphy (Wexford).