Katie Quirke's late free sees Cork narrowly beat Waterford to stay on top of league

Cork 1-12 Waterford 3-5

Cork moved further clear at the top of the Lidl Ladies Football League Division 1 table after edging out their Munster rivals at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday night.

A late Katie Quirke free separated the sides after a highly entertaining game. Cork had some impressive displays as their unbeaten run continued on their return to the top flight but Rosie Corkery was deservedly named Player of the Game afterwards.

Just 20 seconds in and Waterford created the first chance with Kellyann Hogan playing Chloe Fennell in, but her flick towards goal was easily saved by Sarah Murphy.

Grace Ní Mhurchú had Cork’s first chance but her shot went just wide after two minutes.

It took until the seventh minute for the first score to arrive when Ní Mhurchú played Abbie O’Mahony in to point for Cork. Quirke had a chance to extend their lead but her effort under pressure went just wide.

Waterford took the lead after 10 minutes when Brid McMaugh’s effort deceived Murphy and her looping shot ended up in the back of the net to make it 1-0 to 0-1.

Cork had a goal chance of their own a few minutes later when Rachel O’Regan played the ball across, but it was just beyond the reach of the onrushing Rachel Leahy.

Another good Cork move saw Ní Mhurchú involved again, as she set up Emma Cleary for their second point to put one between them.

Hogan scored Waterford’s first point to put her side two up again before Áine O’Neill took a quick free to point herself to see Waterford lead by 1-2 to 0-2.

Quirke opened her account after 24 minutes when she beat several defenders to point from distance.

Cork had another goal chance go astray when Quirke played O’Regan in, but she mistimed her catch and the danger was cleared.

Cork finished the half strongly with Rosie Corkery and Leahy pointing to see only one between them at half time, 1-3 to 0-5.

Cork were back on level terms in the first minute after the restart when Quirke got her second point.

Waterford were then dealt a blow when Maeve Daly was sin-binned for a tackle on Melissa Duggan.

From the free Cork worked the ball up the pitch to lead for the first time when Sadbh McGoldrick pointed, to make it 0-7 to 1-3.

That became a two-point lead when Áine O’Sullivan was quickest to react to a breaking ball from a Quirke free.

Quirke extended Cork’s lead form a free as they were making full use of the extra player.

Another from Quirke made it 0-10 to 1-3 as Cork hit five without reply early in the second half.

That soon became six without reply as Quirke pointed another free, before Cleary was unlucky not to extend the lead further when her effort came back off the post.

O’Neill got Waterford’s first point of the half, but from the restart Aoife Healy burst forward, beating several defenders to find the back of the net, to make it 1-11 to 1-4 after 45 minutes.

Credit to Waterford they responded at the other end with McMaugh getting her and her side’s second goal to put four between them, 1-11 to 2-4.

With six minutes to go that lead was down to one when Clare Walsh got Waterford’s third goal, her effort taking a slight touch off a defender to deceive Murphy as she made it 3-4 to 1-11.

A Fennel free had the sides level with three minutes to go before a Quirke free put Cork back in front. Cork then held on to the ball for more than a minute to hang on for a deserved win on the night.

Scorers for Cork: K Quirke 0-6 (0-3 f), A Healy 1-0, A O’Mahony, E Cleary, R Corkery, R Leahy, S McGoldrick, A O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

Waterford: B McMaugh 2-0, C Walsh 1-0, C Fennell (f), A O’Neill 0-2 each, K Hogan 0-1.

CORK: S Murphy; M Duggan, D Kiniry, S Kelly; A Corcoran, S McGoldrick, R Corkery; A Healy, A O’Mahony; R Leahy, G Ní Mhurchú, E Cleary; R O’Regan, K Quirke, L Hallahan.

Subs: A O’Sullivan for R O’Regan (ht), C Hughes for A Corcoran, M O’Callaghan for A O’Mahony (both 50), A Ring for L Hallahan (53), K Redmond for Ní Mhurchú (55).

WATERFORD: K Gardiner; C Murray, R Casey, R Browne; K McGrath, E Murray, L Mulcahy; Á O’Neill, E Power; K Murray, K Hogan, B McMaugh; C Fennell, L Cusack, M Daly.

Subs: G Corcoran for K Gardiner, C Walsh for K Hogan (both 45), H McGrath for E Power (47), J Queally for M Daly (50).

Referee: Eoghan O’Neill (Kildare).