Considine's Cork come from behind

Clare 0-16 Cork 2-13

With 14 players from the 2008 panel restored to the starting line-up, Cork came from behind to beat their Munster rivals Clare and chalk up their first win of the 2009 Allianz NHL campaign.

Both Clare and Cork came into this afternoon's Cusack Park clash with no points from their opening three games, so there was pressure on both teams to deliver.

But the Rebels, with interim manager John Considine in charge, managed to claim a much-needed win thanks mostly to a Pat Horgan goal and a series of classy points from fellow goalscorer Ben O'Connor.

Cork looked rusty in the opening stages in Ennis, with only left corner back Conor O'Sullivan having featured in the league to date.

Their first touch was missing at times and Clare, with the breeze at their backs, broke 0-11 to 0-6 ahead for half-time.

2008 panellists O'Connor and Niall McCarthy were both on target as Cork moved into a 0-4 to 0-3 lead but the home side looked the sharper as the half wore on.

Free-taker Colin Ryan was punishing any infringements by Cork players and he finished the half with 0-7 to his name.

Jonathan Clancy and Barry Nugent also added points and Clare missed out on a goal when Tony Griffin, racing in from the left wing, fired a shot the wrong side of Donal Óg Cusack's crossbar.

Cork's challenge looked to be on the wane when they lost centre-back Ronan Curran to a yellow card, after two minutes of the second half, and McCarthy was then given a straight red card in the 47th minute.

Curran was replaced by Kieran McGann but Cork had to cope with being down to 14 men when McCarthy was dismissed for his part in an off-the-ball altercation.

In between, Clare marksman Griffin was yellow carded and replaced by Tony Carmody and the Banner men edged further ahead thanks to a Pat Vaughan point.

The scores were beginning to dry up for both sides but just when it looked like it was Clare's game, Cork hit back with a goal.

Clare goalkeeper Philip Brennan misjudged a sideline cut from O'Connor and the ball nestled into the net, closing the gap to 0-12 to 1-6.

Soon after, Horgan blasted home his goal from a 20-metre and while points from Ryan and Carmody kept Clare ahead at 0-16 to 2-8, those goals had put the game right back in the melting pot.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Cork were beginning to come alive and another O'Connor, five minutes from the finish, cut the margin to a single point.

Clare just could not respond and pointed efforts from Kieran Murphy (Erin's Own) and his Sarsfields namesake, Horgan and O'Connor saw Cork decisively pull ahead.

Back on track? Maybe not, but this is certainly a morale-boosting win for O'Connor and the returning players, who finally got back to what they do best.