Throwback Thursday: Cork's U21 success key to landing Sam Maguire

IT'S 16 years ago this week since Cork qualified for the All-Ireland U21 Football Championship final by beating Armagh 0-13 to 0-12 at O’Moore Park in Portlaoise.

The Rebels were hoping to avenge their loss to Mayo in the previous year’s final and bring the trophy back to Leeside for the first time since 1994. There was a lot of pressure on the panel as they made their way up the country on the afternoon of April 22, 2007 and they delivered in the form of a one-point victory over their Ulster rivals.

To tell the real story of this team, it starts with a fixture against Limerick at Páirc Uí Rinn at the beginning of March. It was their first game back in the championship and Cork were aiming for four in a row, something last achieved in the late 1970s. That was a different era, a time when the Rebels regularly won All-Ireland football titles at underage level. In 2007, they were looking to end a 13-year famine on Leeside.

They won 0-17 to 0-9 and hammered Waterford by 25 points in the Munster semi-final. Cork didn’t take their foot off the accelerator and Tipperary were beaten 3-19 to 3-12 in the Munster final. That gave this group of players their first trophy of the year, and they wanted more.

Their clear-cut guidance stemmed from the management team, a brain trust steeped in Cork football tradition. The manager was Tony Leahy, who won two county titles and one All-Ireland with St Finbarr’s. John Cleary was a selector and he was taking his first steps towards becoming one of the best coaches in the county, a reputation that would lead to him taking over the senior footballers in 2022.

They were helping bridge a gap between a talented group of footballers and the senior grade. Ken O'Halloran and Daniel Goulding epitomised this feeling on the panel. O’Halloran helped Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh win the Corn Uí Mhuirí for the first time in their history and he was on the Cork panel that got to the Munster minor final in 2004. 

Goulding won a host of provincial medals with Coláiste Choilm, including back-to-back Frewen Cups in 2001 and 2002.

Two weeks after winning the Munster championship they were on the road to Portlaoise to face an Armagh team that just beaten Tyrone in the Ulster final.

Cork were relentless on the day and they cruised into an early six-point lead. Fintan Goold, Colm O’Neill, and Fiachra Lynch worked together in the first half and their combined tally was 10 points.

Things got a little bit tense in the closing minutes of the first half as Armagh cut the cap to just two. Kevin O'Rourke, David McKenna, and Stefan Forker all raised white flags during this period for the Orchard County and the tension rose massively in just a matter of minutes at O’Moore Park.

Andrew O'Sullivan, Goold, Goulding, and O’Neill all responded for Cork and that gave them a six-point cushion at the break.

Armagh went for goal after the restart and missed. As Cork let out a sigh of relief, Goold raised another white flag and the lead became seven points.

DOMINATE

As the Rebels seemed to settle into a feeling of comfort in the final few minutes of the semi-final, Armagh suddenly clicked and began to dominate the flow of the game.

Cork brought on Sean Clarke and that slightly helped stemmed the tangerine-coloured wave. James Lavery, Gareth O'Neill, Vernon and Forker still managed to find space and send the ball over the bar. The gap was down to one with two minutes of normal time left to play.

Goulding steadied himself after this and fisted the ball over, doubling Cork’s lead. As the white flag was raised, the rain started falling and Armagh pushed almost everyone into their forward line. The goal chance to win the game fell to corner forward Kevin O’Rourke and the ball skimmed wide of the post.

Armagh won the kick-out and Forker raised another white flag in the final. A few seconds later the referee blew for full-time, sending Cork through to the All-Ireland final.

Once Cork dissected the Armagh game, they went to Semple Stadium in Thurles for the All-Ireland final on May 5, 2007. They took on a Laois side that was just after winning back-to-back Leinster titles for the first time in their history and looking to bring a first U21 All-Ireland home.

Cork took every lesson they learned from the championship and defeated Laois 2-10 to 0-15. It brought an end to a stellar run for the players in the championship, while acting as a graduation ceremony for a new generation of senior footballers.