Cork v Clare: Wides in extra time were so costly in the end for valiant Rebels

We all know sport can be cruel at times and it certainly was to the Cork hurlers as the long wait for Liam to return to Leeside goes on.

What a game and one that the neutrals will have enjoyed every minute of from start to the cruel finish that saw Robbie O’Flynn’s effort go wide and with it Cork’s chances of winning the championship.

Overall Clare edged it and to their credit they had their homework done on Cork.

Tactics that worked against Limerick, like their long puc outs, didn’t come off as credit to Clare they had their homework done and denied Cork breaking ball.

However 11 minutes in and it looked like Liam was halfway down the road to the Rebel county as they led by 1-7 to 0-3 and were dominating.

The goal from Robert Downey was a huge score and it wasn’t just the fact he had scored. It was the way he ran from his own half, brushed aside any half-tackle from Clare to find the net. Brian Lohan must have been bewildered at that point as to how he was able to run so far unchallenged.

The Rebels hit 1-4 without reply and they were now in the driving seat.

But the Banner weren’t going to go away that easily and by the time we reached the 22nd minute that seven-point lead was down to one.

Two goal chances could have had a telling factor here, one from Patrick Horgan going just wide and at the other end Eoin Downey blocking superbly to deny Diarmuid Ryan. Instead, we arrived at the 32nd minute all square before the Banner took the lead for the first time.

But just before the break, Darragh Fitzgibbon equalised for the Rebels to stop a run of Clare scores.

Nine minutes into the second half and when Clare got their second goal it wasn’t looking good for the Rebels and when they added their third it looked all over. 

No matter what the result, you can’t fault the spirit and fight in this Cork side. They were not at their best all through and never got up to the heights of the semi-final win over Limerick.

But they battled and battled and kept going and when they were looking gone they came up with three magnificent points in the last few minutes to level it.

Again Clare responded but when you need a cool head they don’t come much cooler than Hoggie and it was only fitting his free split the posts to take it to extra time and the chance for all to breathe.

One can question in a game like this should it go straight to a replay and give both sides another day out, personally that would be my preferred choice after such a battle.

Tiredness has to come into play and we have to remember these players are amateurs so a replay would give all a chance to reset.

Again all through extra-time it was close but Cork hit five wides, some of which you would expect them to score.

In the end, it was a telling factor in such a tight game and it will be little consolation to the players and management at this point to say they were involved in one of the greatest finals for some time.