This was championship hurling.
A late goal from Seamus Harnedy was the icing on the cake in Cork’s first round Munster championship victory over rivals Clare. The home side were good value for their five point victory, as they always seemed to kick on every time Clare came to challenge them.
Their stranglehold on this game was best reflected by the stat that Clare never led the game once from the 8th minute of the game onwards.
It was tidy tipping, it was tit-for-tat from the word go, there was absolutely nothing between these two heavyweights of Munster hurling. Clare raced into an early lead with Colm Galvin prominent but Cork weren’t long responding.
Both sides were deadly from placed balls, with Peter Duggan and Patrick Horgan punishing every single loss of discipline in the game, giving an absolute exhibition of free-taking to the Páirc Uí Chaoimh crowd.
It was a clear tactic from the Banner boys to go for goals, and though they deserve admiration for going for the jugular, they will surely rue the chances they didn’t convert when the point was clearly there for the taking.
Shane O’Donnell is one of the best full forwards in the game, the Éire Óg Ennis club man is the best ball-winner in the game. He was making serious inroads into Cork’s last line in that first half, but hadn’t a score to his name by the time the interval came around.
“Sometimes, he should just tip the goal over the bar,” said Henry Shefflin in the RTÉ studios.
“That’s the big lesson for Clare, they’re over-obsessed with goals,” said Ger Loughnane.
Instead of taking his points, he always stayed going, always picked out the pass but maybe getting a score on the board might have been the better option.
Indeed, O’Donnell did change tack in the second half, roaring out of the blocks to score two fine points from play, but failing to punish Cork during their first half dominance hurt them in the end.
On the other hand, Patrick Horgan was letting rip at the goals with every single chance he got. The Glen Rovers club man never missed a free, but he contributed a couple of sniping second half scores that would tip the balance in the Rebels’ favour. He never needs a second invitation to shoot and this opportunism paid off for John Meyler’s men on Sunday.
O’Donnell got on just as much if not more ball than the Cork man, but Horgan and Cork were more economical on the day.
This, from Horgan was the moment that won the day.
Goal for Cork! Conor Lehane’s one-handed flick sends the sliotar into the Clare net. pic.twitter.com/2reghrz4Hv
— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 20, 2018
Indeed, that man Horgan had one of those days where his dander was up and where he was nothing short of unmarkable. One of the wristiest hurlers in the game, he’s at times accused of lacking consistency, but there’s no doubting that when he’s good, he’s one of the very best.
With the sides trading blows down the home stretch, contributions from their talisman, as well as the energetic Darragh Fitzgibbon, they dynamic Bill Cooper and the hell-bent Harnedy won the day.
Tony Kelly goalled late on to restore parity with the game in injury time, but Cork steadied the ship and kicked on to win by five on a scoreline of 2-23 to 1-21.
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