Wexford hold Cork to a draw

Cork 2-20 Wexford 3-17

A left-sided 72nd minute Rory McCarthy goal, blasted to the roof of Donal Og Cusack's net, brought an end to a thrilling All-Ireland semi-final, as the ebb and flow of this pulsating game resulted in a well-deserved draw for two exhausted sides.

Cork, despite creating 18 scoring chances, were down by four points at the break, hitting six wides as the breaking ball favoured the Leinster men.

Just six minutes in Paul Codd found the Cork net, putting Wexford on their way to a 1-11 to 0-10 interval lead.

Setanta O'hAilpin, the final scorer of the first half, foot-volleyed home early in the second to bring the Rebels back to parity and by the 45th minute they held ascendancy by five points thanks to a Joe Deane double from the placed ball.

Deane looked to have given Cork the winning goal right on the hour mark when he turned smartly from a Mickey O'Connell feed to power the sliotar to the Wexford net to leave scores at 2-17 to 1-15 and a gap was opened.

Wexford, however, showed they are not short on character. Mitch Jordan raced towards the Cork square just 60 seconds later and goaled at the second attempt.

Paul Codd pointed his fifth of the day to bring one between the sides, but was cancelled out by a 62nd minute point from Setanta O'hAilpin (1-3) before Deane crucially missed his first free of the day from the 45 metre line with three minutes remaining.

The scoreboard showed Cork's advantage at 2-19 to 2-17 as injury time came.

Alan Browne pointed from under the new stand on 71 minutes, a probable winner before the purple and amber men rose from the dead a minute later when McCarthy showed his cool to pick his spot.