Rebels rally to stun Dublin
The Rebels, who won the All-Ireland five times in-a-row from 2005 to ‘09, trailed by 3-10 to 2-7 with 16 minutes left but scored seven points without reply to book their place in the last four.
It was a win that left manager Eamonn Ryan once again hailing the character of his players.
“It was an amazing victory,” he said. “We had one like that against Mayo in the semi-final the first year we won the All-Ireland when we got three late points, but today I honestly thought we were gone.
“We used up a fair bit of luck today, but the one thing I’d say in mitigation was that we were six weeks without a game. The pleasing thing was that we outlasted them because all the talk was that they’d outlast us.”
The long lay-off since the Munster final win over Kerry caught up with Cork early on, as Dublin led by 0-5 to 0-1 and 0-7 to 0-3, with Sinead Aherne and Denise Masterson impressing.
However, Mairead Kelly’s 29th-minute goal kickstarted Cork, who had earlier lost Valerie Mulcahy to a sin-binning, and at half-time the Munster champions led by 1-6 to 0-8.
Two Dublin goals in the first two minutes of the second half, from Noelle Healy and Aherne, turned things, though one of those was cancelled out immediately by Cork’s Rhona Ní Bhuachalla.
When Mulcahy missed a penalty and Dublin’s Lyndsey Davey goaled immediately after, the game looked up for Cork who were six points down and struggling. Three from Mulcahy gave them an avenue back into things, though, and they came at Dublin in waves, eventually wearing them down. Juliet Murphy’s fifth point putting them ahead in the 57th minute for a 2-14 to 3-10 win.
On the other side of the draw, Monaghan, hugely impressive in seeing off Meath by 2-13 to 0-8 in the first game at Birr on Saturday, will play Kerry.
The Ulster champions were always in control against the Royals, Niamh Kindlon and Catriona McConnell on target early on before Therese McNally’s goal gave them a considerable cushion.
By half-time the lead was 1-7 to 0-3, the McAnespie twins, Ciara and Aoife impressing, and despite the best efforts of Meath’s Vivienne McCormack and goalkeeper Irene Munnelly, the pattern continued in the second-half, Caoimhe Mohan scoring a second goal to underline a good performance from her.
Scorers for Cork: J Murphy 0-5 (0-4f), R Ni Bhuachalla 1-2, V Mulcahy 0-4 (0-2f), M Kelly 1-0, A O’Shea, O Finn, N Cleary 0-1 each.
Scorers for Dublin: S Aherne 1-6 (0-4f), N Healy 1-2, L Davey 1-1, E Kelly 0-1.
Scorers for Monaghan: C Mohan 1-2, N Kindlon (0-4f), C McConnell (0-2f) 0-4 each, T McNally 1-0, A McAnespie, C McAnespie, L McEnaney 0-1 each.
Scorers for Meath: K O’Brien (0-1f), V McCormack 0-2 each, F Mahon (0-1f), E Duffy (0-1f), J Rispin, G Doherty 0-1 each.
All-Ireland semi-final draw: Cork v Laois, Monaghan v Kerry.
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