NO DOUBT CORK ARE DESERVING
Cork 1-23 Galway 0-12
GALWAY minor boss Brian Hanley had few complaints after their historic run of four All-ireland titles in a row was brought to an end in the final by a superb Cork.
The Tribe became the first side to win a quartet last month when they beat Kilkenny in the delayed 2020 decider.
But just 42 days later they surrendered the crown as Cork won their first in 20 years.
Hanley said: “Cork were an awesome team. They were well drilled and coached and hats off to them.
“They were very dominant and it would be unfair to Cork and what they did to start analysing us and saying, ‘If we did this, that or the other’.
“I think the scoreboard reflected their superiority in the game overall. You never mind losing to a team who are worthy winners and Cork were worthy winners.
“Unfortunately for us we came up short. We didn’t come up short six weeks ago when we won it and that’s just the way it goes.”
Nine players contributed to the Cork scoring haul and all of them hit the target before the break as they built up a 0-16 to 0-7 lead with William Buckley, Jack Leahy, Diarmuid Healy, Mikey Finn, Ben O’connor and Darragh O’sullivan superb.
They wrapped up the issue on the resumption. Leahy, who scored a total of 4-41 across the four games, tacked on a point and then Eoin O’leary set up David Cremin for the only goal of the match to lead by 1-17 to 0-7 after 34 minutes.
Cork boss Noel Furlong said a 19th minor win was testimony to all the hard work done developing young players in the county and he’s hopeful many of them will push on to play at a higher level.
He added: “We have worked with these guys for three years and we know the character they have, the leadership qualities they have, the togetherness they have.”
Cork scorers: J Leahy (0-7, 3f), D Cremin (1-2), D Healy (0-4), W Buckley (0-3), D O’sullivan (0-2), M Finn (0-2, 1sl), B O’connor (0-1), C Tobin (0-1), E O’leary (0-1).
Galway: R Burke (0-5, 4f), M Power (0-4), D Shaughnessy (0-2), D Dunne (0-1).