Cork v Dublin: Awesome Rebels claim 20-point victory to reach another All-Ireland final

Cork 7-26

Dublin 2-21 

Cork will contest the All-Ireland SHC final for the second year in a row after a magnificent performance saw them past Dublin at Croke Park on Saturday evening.

Four first-half goals put Pat Ryan’s side into a commanding position that they never looked like ceding, with three more following in the second half as they picked up where they left off after their Munster championship victory.

Of Cork’s tally, 7-19 of it came from open play but, while the attackers will rightly garner plaudits, this was a team display in its truest form, with the scoring output the jam on top of some excellent bread and butter in defence.

The challenge for the team and management is to match this in a fortnight against Kilkenny or Tipperary, but it is the nicest of missions.

With Cork not having played in four weeks and Dublin coming in off the back of wins Kildare and Limerick, the fear was that the Rebels might have been vulnerable to a slow start.

While Cian O’Sullivan – the man with Beara ancestry – had the Dubs ahead in the opening minute, the first four points were shared before Cork got their first goal.

Brian Hayes was the man who scored it and it was he who engineered the move, too, brilliantly flicking a Patrick Collins puckout to Diarmuid Healy, who linked well with Declan Dalton before the latter found Hayes for a clinical finish.

Rather than causing rustiness, the time off had allowed Cork to perfect their attacking movement. Patrick Horgan might have had a goal chance but he was hauled down by Andy Dunphy, who was booked – the unfortunate corner-back was one of three Dublin starters not to make the second half.

It was 1-5 to 0-4 when Cork struck again. Niall O’Leary, excellent on Seán Currie throughout, forced a turnover, allowing Ciarán Joyce to place a clearance into the hand of Hayes. After he got free, he found Connolly, who did the rest.

A Currie free in response for Dublin was brief respite as a long Collins puckout found Tim O’Mahony, who drove in from the right before passing across to Connolly, whose superb stickwork allowed him to find the net without needing to touch the ball with his hand – 3-5 to 0-5 after 14 minutes.

To their credit, Dublin did conjure an immediate response as Currie’s pass allowed O’Sullivan to crash a shot to the net, followed by a point from their midfielder Brian Hayes.

Darragh Fitzgibbon, Dalton – after excellent defensive work by Seán O’Donoghue – and Connolly had points to move Cork 3-8 to 1-6 in front, though there was a let-off as Fergal Whitely of Dublin had a goal effort come back off the crossbar. Cork counter-attacked in the wake of that and it took a good intervention by Dublin goalkeeper Seán Brennan to deny Connolly.

While Dublin did have a good spell where they outscored Cork by four points to one around the half-hour mark to cut the lead to five points, 3-10 to 1-11, Cork pushed on again as half-time approached, with the fourth goal the centre-piece of a burst of 1-3. That came from a good O’Donoghue delivery to Horgan, whose flick to Connolly allowed him to return the favour to Hayes for another fine finish.

At half-time, the scoreboard read 4-13 to 1-12 in favour of Cork. Goalkeeper Patrick Collins did need to make an important save from Dublin’s Ronan Hayes in the opening minutes of the second half but otherwise Cork continued to press.

It was 4-16 to 1-13 when they raised a green flag again. Once more, O’Donoghue was involved at ground level, snaffling possession and finding Hayes. When he played in Horgan, he surged goalwards but then had the awareness to play in the ever-energetic O’Mahony, who netted to open up a 15-point lead.

Again, Dublin spirited a mini-revival, with O’Sullivan getting another goal from a Currie quick free, and by the 50th minute it was 5-17 to 2-17. Cork’s response was emphatic.

They had a sixth goal as O’Mahony bagged his second, showing lovely stickwork after interplay with Horgan and Connolly, while Dalton landed a boomer following a great Coleman turnover – his fourth of the day.

Subs Shane Kingston, Conor Lehane and Jack O’Connor all got on the scoresheet in the closing stages, while the victory was capped as the run of another replacement, Robbie O’Flynn, allowed Connolly to fire home his hat-trick goal.

The whistle brought joy for the players, backroom team and the massive Cork contingent in Croke Park, but it was a contained ecstasy – a bigger day hopefully awaits.

Scorers for Cork: A Connolly 3-2, P Horgan 0-8 (0-6 f), B Hayes, T O’Mahony 2-1 each, D Dalton 0-5 (0-2 f), D Fitzgibbon 0-3, S Kingston 0-2, D Healy, C Lehane, J O’Connor, C Joyce 0-1 each.

Dublin: C O’Sullivan 2-5, S Currie 0-7 f, F Whitely, C Burke 0-3 each, B Hayes, D Burke, J Hetherton 0-1 each.

CORK: P Collins; S O’Donoghue, E Downey, N O’Leary; C Joyce, R Downey, M Coleman; T O’Mahony, D Fitzgibbon; D Healy, S Barrett, D Dalton; P Horgan, A Connolly, B Hayes.

Subs: R O’Flynn for Healy (50), S Kingston for Horgan (55), T O’Connell for Downey (59), C Lehane for Barrett (63), J O’Connor for Dalton (67).

DUBLIN: S Brennan; P Smyth, J Bellew, A Dunphy; P Doyle, C Burke, C McHugh; C Donohoe, B Hayes; R McBride, F Whitely, C O’Sullivan; S Currie, J Hetherton, R Hayes.

Subs: D Lucey for Dunphy (14), D Power for McHugh (21), D Burke for McBride (half-time), D Ó Dúlaing for R Hayes (46), C Ó Riain for O’Sullivan (66).

Referee: J Murphy (Limerick).