Awesome Rebel firepower

RECENT meetings against Tipperary in the U21 grade have been painful experiences for Cork with extra-time defeats in the last two years but the memories of those clashes were erased courtesy of a powerful winning performance in last night’s Bord Gáis Energy Munster U21HC semi-final in Semple Stadium.

This match had assumed extra significance given Cork’s hurling travails at other levels this season and the U21 team delivered a timely success. The latest offering maintained the theme of pulsating encounters between the counties at underage level in recent seasons but in a game that produced 45 scores in 60 minutes of play, Cork’s greater potency up front was key in front of 4,629 patrons.

“We’re very pleased and it was a hugely satisfying performance,” admitted Cork manager Ger Fitzgerald. “We got a fabulous start but they came back at us as. Goals were the key for us tonight and our men inside had the courage to take on the defenders to go for goals. But we have to keep our feet on the ground now and realise that we’ve nothing won. We’ve to play the winners of Clare and Limerick now, and that’ll be very difficult.”