Clare keep up relentless gallop as Cork off pace

Clare 0-23 Cork 0-19: First of all, disregard the scoreline. This was anything but a four-point contest.

The visitors to Ennis came with a late charge, outscoring their hosts by 0-6 to 0-1 in the closing 10 minutes. The final margin, thus, gives the impression of a tight, well-fought contest. Again, anything but as the home side impressively became the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition.

Cork, stuck to the ground during an opening half where they were totally overrun and outfought, began hurling half an hour too late. And when they finally did manage to string a meaningful run of scores together, their opponents already had the two points sewn up.