Rebels finish campaign on a high

Cork 0-21 Waterford 1-13

CORK secured their Division 1A hurling status last weekend and in so doing signed the drop orders for neighbours and rivals Waterford.

A game that nobody wanted to contemplate being a part of at the start of the season became the most important game in almost a year as Cork, and their new management set-up tried to finish off a disappointing campaign with one good performance – something they thankfully managed on a bitterly cold Páirc Uí Rinn afternoon.

The bookies found it hard to separate the sides before throw in, but 12 minutes in it was hard to see past a home win as Cork rattled off five unanswered points to lead on the scoring, possession and confidence stakes.

Led by the returning Seamus Harnedy, Cork looked to get off to a flyer and thanks to the early influences of the likes of Bill Cooper and Darragh Fitzgibbon in the midfield as well as Tim O’Mahony at centre-back and Dean Brosnan at wing-forward Cork did not disappoint as they attempted to put the Deise to the sword early on.

Most of that early good work was undone in a small moment of madness from Colm Spillane who got himself on the wrong side of Waterford’s Patrick Curran who rammed home the resultant penalty to cut the gap back to just two points.

The measure of a good side can often be judged by how they respond to setbacks and Cork answered any questions about their character bagging four of the next five points to again open up a five-point lead.

Cork looked like they would lead by that gap at the turn, however, a late flurry inside the last 30 seconds of the half saw Waterford hit two points to go in well in touch – down by just three. (0-10 to 1-4).

The break gave both camps the chance to assess what had gone before and there would have been a much more palatable discussion in the Cork dressing room than there would have been in the away one.

Cork in the main would have been happy with the first 35 and carried that intensity into the second, starting well with two of the first three scores, but Waterford had their chances to make this a difficult afternoon for the home side with two good goal chances in the 43rd and 44th minutes, but neither resulted in a green flag and Cork bagged four of the next six points to keep the men in blue and white at bay.

A brace of scores from Patrick Horgan as well as a point from Cooper looked like being crucial on the day however it was the loss of Maurice Shanahan seconds after he came on as a substitute would put the first nail in Waterford’s chances of staying in the top flight of league hurling.

The away side’s Pauric Mahony and Stephen Bennett kept the pressure on with Tadgh de Burca chipping in with a huge point, but just as Waterford looked to be getting to within touching distance, Cork, in the shape of Horgan, Spillane and Daniel Kearney (two) pulled out to a six-point lead to all but end this one as a contest.

Spillane did make up for his early penalty concession late on with a brilliant block on a Waterford shot on goal and Cork deservedly took the spoils of victory which secures their status as a top-flight hurling side for the next twelve months at least.

Cork will look to take the positives from the league campaign and particularly this win with them as they head into the revamped Munster Championship in the weeks and months ahead while for the vanquished side this is hardly the best way to enter into what will be a challenging few months ahead.

CORK: A. Nash, S. O’Donoghue, E. Cadogan, C. Spillane 0-1, C. Joyce, T. O’Mahony, M. Coleman, D. Fitzgibbon 0-3, B. Cooper 0-4, S. Harnedy, D. Brosnan 0-3, C. Lehane 0-1, A. Cadogan 0-1, P. Horgan (0-5, 3f), M. Cahalane 0-1 Subs:

L. Meade for Cahalane (46); D. Browne for O’Mahony (blood, 57-58); D. Kearney 0-2 for Brosnan (63); R. O’Flynn for A. Cadogan (70)

WATERFORD: S. O’Keeffe, S. Fives, B. Coughlan, N. Connors, K. Bennett, T. de Burca 0-1, P. Mahony, J. Barron 0-1, C. Dunford, P. Mahony (0-4, 2f), S. Bennett 0-3, M. Kearney 0-1, T. Devine, P. Curran 1-0 pen, T. Ryan 0-2 Subs: C. Gleeson for K. Bennett (53); M. Shanahan for Kearney (55); B. O’Halloran for Dunford (61); J. Dillon 0-1 for Curran (61); M. Walsh for Ryan (66)

REFEREE: J. Keenan (Wicklow)