Cork hurlers fail to hit full tilt in Wexford, Kilkenny await in league semi-final

Wexford 1-22 Cork 1-17 

CORK will take on Kilkenny next weekend in the Allianz National League semi-final after coming up short against Wexford in Chadwicks Wexford Park.

In front of 5,826 vocal fans, the Rebels were almost always on the back foot in this one - despite having a couple of short periods of domination when one might have thought Kieran Kingston’s charges could pull this one from the fire.

No question that both sides left plenty of their heavy-hitters on the sideline with Cork choosing to rest players of the calibre of Mark Coleman, Tim O’Mahony, Patrick Horgan and Darragh Fitzgibbon, to name just four. However their absence made space for players such as Niall O’Leary, Robert Downey, Ciaran Joyce and Brian Roche to make a claim for a championship jersey.

Man of the Match Rory O’Connor dominated proceedings for the victors with 1-07 in the opening half (1-12 all in).

Right from the off this one looked like it was going to be a tough day at the office for the visiting side with Wexford hitting the front just after the ball went in.

The home side had 1-3 on the board inside five minutes with O’Connor responsible for 1-1 of that. The corner-forward fetched a brilliant ball from the sky (without a hurley in hand) fell to the ground – got up, turned two Cork defenders before booting to the net – a brilliant effort.

Cork managed to finally get their hands on the ball soon after and two frees from Shane Kingston settled the nerves some bit.

Wexford weren’t long taking the initiative back and a trio of quick points had them seven up – the game still hadn’t reached the quarter-hour mark.

A good score from Ciaran Joyce from centre-back again lifted the gloom but Wexford were in the zone with O’Connor, in particular, hurting Cork both from play and placed balls.

Cork had their chances to add significantly to their first-half tally but some wasteful efforts in front of the posts saw them rack up eight wides in the opening half – that said, Wexford were no angels in that department either with 10 wides themselves in the opening 35.

Cork did have some bright points in the first half with a wonderful shoulder from Sean O’Leary-Hayes stopping a goalbound Corey Byrne-Dunbar while a brace of points from Conor Lehane showing all that care to pay attention that he has something to offer this Cork attack.

A late free from Kingston sent Cork in at the turn down by eight (1-13 to 0-8) – plenty of work for Kieran Kingston to do if his side were to salvage something from this particular league fixture.

No questioning Cork’s determination for this one as the rebels put it up to the home side on the resumption.

Three changes at the interval, Mark Keane, Conor Cahalane and Sam Quirke all did well in the opening exchanges as Cork looked to reel in the Leinster side. And with points from Cahalane, Luke Meade, O’Connor and Keane they did just that – dragging Wexford back to within a goal on the 55th minute.

Six points on the bounce may have turned the wind in Cork’s favour but on the day they just didn’t have what it took to stop a Wexford side on the march to their fifth league win on the bounce. That despite Alan Connolly’s late three-pointer and a couple of goal-mouth scrambles in front of the home side’s net.

Wexford deservedly take top spot leaving Cork in second, a clash with Kilkenny next weekend in a semi-final the Leesiders' reward for a solid league campaign.

Scorers for Wexford: R O’Connor 1-12 (0-5 f); O Foley, P Foley (0-1 f), C McDonald 0-2 each; D O’Keeffe, l Óg McGovern, C Byrne-Dunbar, J O’Connor 0-1 each.

Cork: C Lehane 0-6 (0-3 f), A Connolly 1-1; S Kingston 0-3 f; C Joyce (0-1 65), R Downey 0-2 each; L Meade, J O’Connor, M Keane 0-1 each.

WEXFORD: N Fanning; S Donohoe, L Ryan, C Devitt; P Foley, D Reck, J O’Connor; D O’Keeffe, C Dunbar; L Óg McGovern, O Foley, K Foley; R O’Connor, C McDonald, C Byrne-Dunbar. 

Subs: M Dwyer for C Byrne-Dunbar (48), C McGuckin for J O’Connor (55), O Pepper for C Dunbar (57), C Flood for C Devitt (65), C Hearne for R O’Connor (69).

CORK: G Collins; D Cahalane, D O’Leary, N O’Leary; S O’Leary-Hayes, C Joyce, R Downey; B Roche, L Meade; S Harnedy, S Barrett, S Twomey; S Kingston, A Connolly, C Lehane. 

Subs: S Quirke for B Roche, C Cahalane for S Twomey, M Keane for S Harnedy (all h-t), J O’Connor for S Kingston (45), R O’Flynn for S Barrett (65).

Referee: F Horgan (Tipperary)