Cork hold off late Galway fightback to earn second league win
Cork's Sean Twomey scores one of his two goals in Galway. Picture: INPHO/Bryan Keane
CORK made it two wins from two in the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Group A as they bettered Galway in a Sunday shootout at Pease Stadium.
Level at 1-13 each, Cork hit a rich vein of form on the restart as Shane Barrett set up Seán Twomey for a goal, with Galway suffering a double blow as wing-back Oisín Salmon received a second yellow card for a foul in the build-up.
Play had barely restarted before Conor Lehane – stand-in captain in the absence of Seán O’Donoghue – drove a low shot to the net for his second goal of the game and Shane Kingston, Barrett and Lehane tacked on further points to give Cork a commanding 3-16 to 1-12 advantage.
When Twomey scored his second goal late on, victory looked secured for Cork as they led by 4-22 to 1-21 but Galway launched an unlikely comeback in the five minutes of injury time. First, Martin McManus capped a fine display as he netted and then, after a point from sub Liam Collins, fellow replacement Brian Concannon scored another goal to leave four in it.
While the excellent Declan Dalton gave Cork breathing space with his eighth point of the day, there was still time for Galway to win a late penalty – Eoin Roche picking up a black card for his troubles – but Patrick Collins saved from Kevin Cooney to ensure the points went south.
There was a crowd of 8,872 present in Salthill a game that was at times entertaining and occasionally ragged – typical league fare, ultimately – but the Cork management will be pleased that a side missing some established names was still able to find a wway to win.
A Cork team that, when announced on Thursday night, had four changes from the win over Limerick, was further altered as Cormac O’Brien, Sam Quirke and Shane Barrett were late additions prior to throw-in.
Galway had a bright start as they led by 0-5 to 0-2 in the early stages, but Cork were level as Declan Dalton’s pass found Lehane and he drove towards goal before firing home.
However, Kevin Cooney – so impressive for ATU Galway against UCC in the Fitzgibbon Cup on Thursday night – replied almost immediately with a Galway goal and before long they had assembled a 1-7 to 1-3 advantage.
Such was the open nature of the game, though, there was never a sense of Cork being out of proceedings and Tommy O’Connell at wing-back and Brian Roche at midfield were to the fore as they found a foothold again.
In attacking, Dalton was in sparkling form – unlucky with a goal attempt as he hit the crossbar – and they could even afford a couple of misses from frees by Shane Kingston as they drew level at 1-9 each thanks to the Douglas player on 26 minutes.
Dalton had them in front again but it was nip and tuck for the remainder of the half as Evan Niland shot three consecutive frees to put Galway back in front but Barrett, Kingston and Dalton were on target before the break as the teams went in level at 1-13 each.
Few could have expected what was to materialise at the outset of the second half but those two Cork goals, allied to three unanswered points, put them firmly in control.
While Galway did eventually muster a response as McManus, Niland and sub Cianán Fahy found the target, Cork hit back just as emphatically with points from Lehane, Dalton, Brian Hayes with his first touch and Barrett’s fourth. They led by 3-20 to 1-16 with 20 minutes of normal time left.
E Niland 0-11 (0-8 f), M McManus 1-3, K Cooney 1-1, B Concannon 1-0, C Whelan 0-2 C Fahy, P Mannion, C Mannion, L Collins (f) J Flynn 0-1.
C Lehane 2-3, D Dalton 0-8 (0-2 f), S Twomey 2-0, S Kingston 0-6 (0-4 f), S Barrett 0-4, C Beausang, C Cahalane, B Hayes 0-1 each.
D Fahy; O Salmon, G McInerney, J Grealish; P Mannion, J Cooney, D Morrissey; G Lee, S Linnane; T Monaghan, C Whelan, J Flynn; E Niland, K Cooney, M McManus.
C Fahy for Monaghan (half-time), C Mannion for Lee (43), R Murphy for Morrissey (54), B Concannon for Flynn (58), L Collins for Niland (66).
P Collins; C O’Callaghan, E Downey, E Roche; T O’Connell. C Joyce, C O’Brien; B Roche, S Quirke; D Dalton, C Lehane, S Twomey; C Beausang, S Barrett, S Kingston.
L Meade for Quirke (39), B Hayes for Beausang (47), C Cahalane for S Barrett (56), P Power for Kingston (59), C Walsh for B Roche (69).
J Murphy (Limerick).
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