Resilient Rebels get the timing spot on

A game which began and ended with the ball crashing off the woodwork saw Cork take this All-Ireland quarter-final with a driving finish and a late flurry of points.

Waterford almost snatched a draw when a late, late 65 struck the post and bounced invitingly in the Cork square before being cleared.

“At three points down in the 60th minute it didn’t look great for us,” said Cork manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy after the game.

“I didn’t think we played particularly well today at times, we started well but went out of the game for long periods. We couldn’t get on the ball enough to get it into our hands and get it into our inside forward line, who looked very dangerous.

“Waterford upped the ante in the second-half and played magnificent hurling to get ahead of us, so we’re pleased with the win but not overly excited by the performance.”

The performance began well for Cork — Luke O’Farrell hitting the post in the opening seconds, but the pyrotechnics ended there for quite a while. Waterford took some time to get their bearings after Patrick Horgan and John Mullane swapped points early on, and Cork’s touch and interplay was noticeably sharper in the first quarter.

Horgan, Patrick Cronin and Jamie Coughlan all added points before Cork struck for the game’s only goal on 15 minutes – a good Cian McCarthy crossfield ball was won by Paudie O’Sullivan, whose perfect handpass opened up the space for Coughlan to goal emphatically.

By then it was all Cork, 1-5 to 0-2, with new man Daniel Kearney showing up well in midfield. But Waterford rallied, with John Mullane dominating affairs from wing-forward. The De La Salle man is usually stationed near goal with green flags a priority, but he won several puck-outs in the second quarter yesterday and was instrumental in Waterford’s recovery.

Frees from Tony Browne and Maurice Shanahan gave them a foothold and then a fine run of points brought them level – Shanahan (two), Padraic Mahony (two), Seamus Prendergast and Stephen Molumphy, before Shanahan’s 33-rd-minute free edged the Déise ahead. Cork managed points from Cian McCarthy and Horgan (free) but Waterford certainly had the initiative when Barry Kelly blew for the break.

Cian McCarthy nudged Cork two ahead on the resumption, but Waterford, driven on by Stephen Molumphy, Kevin Moran and Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh, took over.

With Maurice Shanahan maintaining his accuracy with two points (one free and one 65), Shane Walsh also came into the game with two points. Cork were struggling to make headway on their own puck-outs – eventually replacing their entire half-forward line – and Waterford edged ahead going into the third quarter. An inspirational Mullane point made it 1-15 to 0-18 on 55 minutes and Waterford looked set fair. However, Cork came with one last surge, with substitutes John Gardiner and Darren Sweetnam thundering into the game alongside Tom Kenny. They hit a purple patch from the 63rd minute with points from Horgan (two, one a free), O’Farrell, Naughton, and a long-range effort from Sean Óg Ó hAilpín which raised the roof.

There was still time for that late Waterford 65 to hit the post and bounce in front of goal, but when Cork repelled a resultant sideline, a place in Croke Park was theirs.

“We’re a bit disappointed,” said Waterford boss Michael Ryan. “There were two decisive stages in the game. Just before half-time we’d come back to go a point up and conceded two points in a minute, and so they went in ahead. Then we were three points up in the second-half, had a couple of good chances, didn’t take them.

“They had a very strong bench and were playing with the wind. It’s about momentum really – they hit the front at exactly the right stage in the game. Even after we had a couple of chances and we hit the post. They hit the front with four of five minutes to go after going behind and it’s very hard to reel somebody in at that stage.”

Cork now advance to face Galway, and they’ll be heartened by the recovery of Stephen McDonnell’s form, for instance, at full-back. However, they needed John Gardiner to shore up the middle against Seamus Prendergast and as noted above, the entire half-forward line was called ashore.

Against that, they head to Croke Park as underdogs against a county not noted for their consistency. Jimmy Barry-Murphy has stressed that Cork are still developing and learning, but the sharp end of the All-Ireland series is where some significant lessons can be learned.

Scorers for Cork: P. Horgan 0-7 (0-4 fs); J. Coughlan 1-1; C. McCarthy 0-3; P. Cronin, P. O’Sullivan, C. Naughton 0-2 each; S. Óg Ó hAilpín, L. O’Farrell 0-1 each.

Scorers for Waterford: M. Shanahan 0-9 (0-6 fs, 0-1 65); P. Mahony 0-3; S. Walsh, J. Mullane 0-2 each; S. Prendergast, T. Browne (f) and S. Molumphy 0-1 each.

Cork subs: D. Sweetnam for Kearney (HT); C. Naughton for N. McCarthy (44); J. Gardiner for E. Cadogan (50); S. Moylan for Coughlan (55); L. McLoughlin for C. McCarthy (59).

Waterford subs: E. McGrath for Ryan (42); S. Casey for S. Walsh (50); R. Foley for Browne (68).