Goulding injury not a major concern

The injury that Daniel Goulding suffered in Cork's 12-point All-Ireland SFC qualifier win over Down is not as serious as first feared.

Goulding hobbled off the Croke Park pitch having injured his right ankle when in possession during the first half of the match.

With fellow attackers Colm O'Neill and Ciarán Sheehan already ruled out with cruciate injuries, there was concern over the extent of the blow.

But Cork manager Conor Counihan confirmed afterwards: "It's a pretty minor ankle strain, but obviously Daniel wasn't going to be able to continue today.

"We would be very hopeful that he will be okay by next week."

Goulding was replaced by Barry O'Driscoll in the 20th minute of tonight's encounter at Croke Park, having set up an early goal for Donncha O'Connor.

But in the Éire Óg clubman's absence, O'Connor (1-7), Fintan Goold (1-2), Paul Kerrigan (0-3) and Paddy Kelly (0-2) led the Cork attack with aplomb.

The Rebels stormed clear of Down in the second half, comfortably booking their place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Depending on tomorrow's draw, they will be back in action next weekend or the week after.

Counihan admitted that the disappointment of losing the Munster final to Kerry acted as a spur for his players on their return to GAA headquarters.

"We certainly would have been very disappointed with our start and our first half in Killarney so we would have seen areas for improvement. To be fair to the boys, they responded today.

"I haven't really had the time to take it in but we got the scores at crucial times and when they lost a man (Martin Clarke), it made it much easier for us.

"I suppose Down would have had better days here and we had to factor that in in terms of our performance."

The Down defence had numerous problems coping with the movement of O'Connor and company, and the likes of Eoin Cadogan, Paudie Kissane and Aidan Walsh also broke forward into space.

It was not a particular tactic that Cork had singled out beforehand, but the direct running style was the best option more often than not according to Counihan.

"Whether you run at them or it is long ball or short ball depends on what is appropriate in terms of what way they set themselves up," he added.

"Maybe today we did run at them a bit but we probably played some good, direct ball into guys like Donncha which was a good option."

Cork's odds of retaining the All-Ireland title have been shortened from 3/1 to 5/2 following the qualifier victory. Munster champions Kerry are the favourites at 2/1, with Leinster champions Dublin priced at 7/2.