Mangan brace sees off Cats as O’Neill argues merits

THE future of the All-Ireland intermediate hurling championship may be in doubt, but every effort should be made to save it according to Kilkenny manager David O’Neill.

The Cats lost the final in Nowlan Park on Saturday when Cork stretched their lead in the roll of honour by claiming their ninth All-Ireland victory in the oncemighty competition.

Alas, it attracted only two counties this season, and they contested the decider because no-one else entered.

“It is a great competition to help players make their way on to county senior teams,” O’Neill argued.

“Thirteen of the Kilkenny players who featured in the championship against Limerick recently played at this level, and I have no doubt it helped them progress their career.

“It is a championship worth continuing, and Kilkenny will certainly be interested in it going forward,” he added.

The Leesiders lead the table of winners in this competition, two ahead of Tipperary and four in front of Kilkenny. Cork were left celebrating on Saturday evening when a brace of well-taken goals by talented full-forward Dan Mangan crushed the opposition after a lively enough encounter.

The scores were level three times during the opening quarter, Kilkenny coming from behind in the tenth minute to earn parity (1-2 to 0-5) after St Catherine’s man Mangan had bagged his first goal to put the Rebels ahead.

With some fine scores from Chris O’Leary, Cormac Murphy and free-taker Stephen Condon, the Leesiders drove on to lead by 1-10 to 0-8 at the break.

The Kilkenny chase bubbled up nicely during the closing period. When Patrick Walsh (2) and Conor Hennessy put three scores together to slice the deficit to 0-16 to 1-16 with eight minutes remaining, the opportunity to gain a third win on the trot looked possible.

Cork hung tough, however. Stephen Condon tipped over a handy free to calm the nerves. Mangan then drilled home his second goal in the 54th minute to decide it, rifling a low shot to the net.

SCORERS – Cork: D Mangan 2-2, S Condon 0-6 (6f), C Murphy 0-3, J Walsh, C O’Leary 0-2 (fs) each, S Hegarty, M Collins, C Fleming, D O’Neill 0-1 each. Kilkenny: James Bergin 0-8 (8f), P Walsh 0-3, S Murphy, P Hennebry, C Hennessy 0-2 each, Rory Hickey 0-1.

CORK – S Hurley; N Motherway, M Russell, G Mellerick; C O’Leary, S O’Donovan, J Cronin; N Kelly, S Hegarty; J Walsh, C Murphy, M Collins; C Fleming, D Mangan, S Condon. Subs: C O’Brien for Motherway (26); D O’Neill for Collins (39); L O’Shea for C Fleming (47); M O’Sullivan for J Walsh (51). KILKENNY – D Brennan; M Carey, C Flynn, P Delahanty; E Egan, P O’Carroll, J Henderson; S Murphy, P Hennebry; C Hennessy, C Tobin, O McGrath; P Walsh, C O’Carroll, J Bergin. Subs: S Ryan for O McGrath (41); R Hickey for O’Carroll (48).

REF – J Keane (Galway).