Gritty Rebels on spring roll

The 2010 All-Ireland champions maintained their status as league specialists while the 2011 kingpins’ interest in springtime endeavours are terminated.

Those were the outcomes to be digested after yesterday’s Division 1 league encounter in Páirc Uí Chaoimh where 3,707 patrons witnessed an Easter Sunday game that lacked the thunder of championship fare but still revealed enough to confirm both Cork and Dublin can travel far this summer.

Cork’s stab at a four-in-a-row of sorts – after a Division 2 title in 2009 and the last two Division 1 crowns – is still intact as they booked a semi-final berth against Down next Sunday. They have firmly bossed their ties against the Mourne men in recent times yet their opponents will have renewed vigour when they meet next. Conor Counihan watched his Aghada clubmate Pearse O’Neill swing over the late point that copper-fastened Cork’s triumph and shifted focus to the next challenge.