Sherlock to the fore as Cork breeze past Clare and into McGrath Cup decider

It was another encouraging display for John Cleary’s side who were on their way to victory by half-time

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER: Cork captain Brian Hurley and his team-mate. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

McGrath Cup Round 3 

Cork 2-10 Clare 0-8  

Cork will play Limerick in the McGrath Cup decider next Wednesday night as their early-season surge continued in West Clare on Sunday afternoon when they eased to double scores victory over a poor Clare outfit.

Steven Sherlock’s clinical finish for a goal on 52 minutes powered Cork five clear, before Chris Jones’ strike three minutes from time put ever greater daylight between the sides in what was a lop-sided affair played at a breezy Quilty venue.

It was another encouraging display for John Cleary’s side who were on their way by half-time, being on the front foot from the opening seconds as they built up a 0-6 to 0-3 lead, despite playing against the breeze and some wayward shooting.

That interval lead would have been much greater but for six poor wides, while Sherlock was denied a goal as early as the first minute thanks to a great David Sexton save from point-blank range, but they still showed much more urgency against a Clare side that offered little going forward.

Sherlock hit 0-3 in the half on his way to an impressive 1-6 tally, after captain Brian Hurley got things going with the opening point of the contest which was responded to almost immediately by a brilliant effort from Jamie Malone. Alas, that was nearly as good as it got for the home side.

Clare did finish the half with a good score from substitute Pearse Lillis, while more urgency on the turnover as a couple of Sexton frees and another from captain Eoin Cleary helped make it an 0-8 to 0-6 game by the 50th minute.

However, once star man Sherlock latched onto Luke Fahy's great through ball before blasting home from ten yards, all that needed to be ascertained was the margin of Cork’s victory.

It was eight in the end, but they could easily have helped themselves to a few more goals.

Scorers for Cork: S Sherlock (1-6, 3f), C Jones (1-1), B Hurley (0-3, 1f).

Scorers for Clare: K Sexton (0-3f), E Cleary (0-2f), J Malone (0-1), P Lillis (0-1), P Collins (0-1).

Cork: C Kelly; M Shanley, D O’Mahony, T Walsh; L Fahy, S Meehan, M Taylor; C O’Callaghan, I Maguire; E McSweeney, J O’Rourke, B O’Driscoll; C Jones, B Hurley, S Sherlock. 

Subs: R Maguire for Meehan (50), T Clancy for O’Mahony (50), R Deane for McSweeney (54), K O’Hanlon for O’Rourke (64), C Kiely for Shanley (64), S Merritt for Fahy (66), P Ring for Walsh (67), P Walsh for Maguire (71), F Herlihy for O’Driscoll (71), M Cronin for Jones (71).

Clare: D Sexton; D Nagle, C Brennan, R Lanigan; A Sweeney, J Malone, C O’Dea; D Bonhannon, B McNamara; D Coughlan, E Cleary, C Downes; A Griffin, K Sexton, K Sexton, D Walsh. 

Subs: P Lillis for Malone (26) inj, D O’Neill for McNamara (Half-Time), G Cooney for Walsh (Half-Time), P Collins for Downes (Half-Time), M McInerney for Griffin (52), M Garry for Nagle (57), T McDonald for Coughlan (60), M Doherty for Sweeney (63), T Meenahan for Sexton (65), F Ginnane for Lanigan (65).