Cork v Offaly: Semi-final beckons for Rebels after one-sided contest

Cork 6-25

Offaly 2-11

A third straight All-Ireland SHC semi-final is in store for Cork after they lived up to their favourites’ tag against Offaly at FBD Semple Stadium on Sunday.

Before a crowd of 40,185, the majority of which were bedecked in red, the possibility of an upset was never given the chance to germinate as Cork got on top from the off and scored five first-half goals en route to a 26-point win.

Ben O’Connor’s side had hit the ground running as Shane Barrett scored the opener inside 18 seconds and was then fouled for a free that Alan Connolly converted, before the opening goal arrived in the fifth minute.

Mark Coleman’s delivery from a sideline cut was excellent, allowing Alan Walsh to mark his first championship start by rising high to catch and convert to the net.

Eoghan Cahill did get Offaly off the mark with a 65 after that but Cork were in full flow and the lead had expanded to 1-7 to 0-2 by the 15th minute when they found the net again. Defenders Eoin Downey and Seán O’Donoghue linked well, with the latter finding Brian Hayes, who turned Ciarán Burke and fired beyond Liam Hoare.

The scoreboard had scarcely been updated before the goals column need to be changed again: this time Diarmuid Healy’s ball in again allowed Walsh to showcase his aerial wares. There was for brief uncertainty for those watching as the ball looked to stay alive after his shot but it bounced out off the lower frame of the net.

By this stage, Offaly had brought captain Killian Sampson back to a sweeping role with Cathal King dropping from midfield but that only meant that Cork could employ Coleman in a free playmaking role and the Blarney man continued the form that will surely see him win a second All-Star award, nine years after the first.

The fourth goal came in the 28th minute, with Diarmuid Healy finding Barrett before he exchanged passes with Darragh Fitzgibbon – who showed no ill-effects following his bout of appendicitis – and fired home.

A good block by Offaly corner-back Ciarán Burke denied Walsh a hat-trick goal and Hayes was pulled for a thrown pass as he sought to play Alan Connolly in, but there was time for a fifth before half-time as Healy and Walsh combined for Hayes’s second.

It was 5-14 to 0-6 at the break, with Offaly restricting themselves to one change for the second moiety – however, there was a loud cheer for the announcement that Hawkeye would no longer be in operation, following three long delays in the opening half, one of which saw a Fitzgibbon point cancelled as the Brian Duignan’s ‘wide’ at the other end had actually been a point.

Hayes grabbed his third with less than three minutes on the clock in the new half, the beneficiary of a driving run from the impressive Hugh O’Connor and Seán O’Donoghue and sub William Buckley got on the scoresheet as the advantage stretched to 6-19 to 0-8.

As can often be the way of things in such games, the leaders’ intensity drops as they run the bench and the losing side can make a dent in the lead – Offaly did that with two goals in three minutes.

Sub Oisín Kelly scored the first and then set up Adam Screeney for the second but even with that, the lead never dropped below 20 points. Séamus Harnedy and Robbie O’Flynn were other subs to add to the Cork tally as the game meandered its way to an inevitable conclusion.

Croke Park is on the agenda for the semi-final with Galway on Saturday, July 4 – a tougher test surely awaits.

Scorers for Cork: B Hayes 3-0, A Connolly 0-7 (0-4 f, 0-2 65), A Walsh 2-1, S Barrett 1-3, D Fitzgibbon (0-1 f), B Roche, D Healy, S Harnedy 0-2 each, E Downey, R Downey, M Coleman, S O’Donoghue, R O’Flynn, W Buckley 0-1 each.

Offaly: A Screeney 1-2 (0-1 f), O Kelly 1-0, B Duignan 0-3, E Cahill 0-2 (0-1 f, 0-1 65), T Guinan, D Bourke, L Hoare 0-1 each.

CORK: P Collins; N O’Leary, D Cahalane, S O’Donoghue; E Downey, R Downey, M Coleman; B Roche, H O’Connor; D Fitzgibbon, S Barrett, D Healy; A Connolly, B Hayes, A Walsh.

Subs: W Buckley for Barrett, B Walsh for Hayes (both 44), S Harnedy for Roche, R O’Flynn for Fitzgibbon (both 52), G Millerick for Coleman (58).

OFFALY: L Hoare; C Burke, B Conneely, P Taaffe; R Ravenhill, T Guinan, K Sampson; D Ravenhill, C King; S Rigney, D Bourke, C Doyle; A Screeney, B Duignan, E Cahill.

Subs: R Kelly for R Ravenhill (half-time), O Kelly for Rigney (41), C Spain for D Ravenhill (48), E Burke for Cahill (51), L Watkins for Doyle (65).

Referee: S Stack (Dublin).