Goulding's late burst gets Cork off to a winning start in McGrath Cup

Cork 1-10

Limerick 0-12

DANIEL Goulding’s two late points got Cork off to a winning start in their McGrath Cup Group B opener against Limerick in Mallow on Sunday afternoon.

An experimental Rebel outfit had fallen behind to Limerick inside the last ten minutes, 0-12 to 1-8, but two Goulding efforts – one a free, the other a fisted point – saw Cork show character to win this contest.

Cork enjoyed the better of the opening quarter and led 1-3 to 0-2 after 13 minutes, with points from Daniel Goulding, Seamus Hickey and Luke Connolly (free) followed by a well-taken Kevin O’Driscoll goal, as he finished low to the net.

But Limerick bossed the rest of the half and drew level after 30 minutes as they outscored Cork by five points to one, with a long-range Goulding effort all Cork had to show as they were second best.

Stephen Kelly, Ian Corbett, Sean O’Dea and Sean McSweeney (2) were all on target for Limerick, who also missed a penalty when Seanie Buckley sent his effort wide.

Before the break a Daniel Goulding free edged Cork ahead, 1-5 to 0-7, at half time.

In a tight second half Limerick saw more of the ball but points from Dan MacEoin and Seamus Hickey stretched Cork’s lead to 1-7 to 0-8, before Limerick scored four of the next five points to take a 0-12 to 1-8 lead – MacEoin scored his second point of the game for the Rebels.

But then came Goulding’s late points that won this game to get Peadar Healy’s reign off to a winning start.

Next up for Cork is an away trip to Dungarvan next Sunday to play Waterford in their second group game of the revamped McGrath Cup.

Scorers

Cork: D Goulding 0-5 (2f), K O’Driscoll 1-0, S Hickey, D MacEoin 0-2 each, L Connolly (1f) 0-1.

Limerick: S McSweeney 0-3 (2f), S Kelly, I Corbett, D Neville 0-2 each, S O’Dea, B Fanning, J Naughton (f) 0-1 each.

Cork: Micheál Martin (Nemo Rangers); Colm O’Driscoll (Tadhg MacCarthaigh), Lorcan Harrington(Castletownbere), Jamie Davis (Douglas); Mark Collins (O’Donovan Rossa), Tomas Clancy (Fermoy), Alan O’Donovan (Nemo Rangers); Ian Maguire (St Finbarrs), Ruairi Deane (Bantry Blues); Shane Beston (Mitchelstown), Luke Connolly (Nemo Rangers), Kevin O’Driscoll (Tadhg MacCarthaigh); Dan McEoin (Ilen Rovers), Daniel Goulding (Eire Og), Seamus Hickey (Rockchapel).

Subs used: Daniel Hazel (O’Donovan Rossa) for L Harrington; Brian Coughlan (Kinsale) for L Connolly; Killian O’Hanlon (Kilshannig) for S Beston (all ht); Peter Kelleher (Kilmichael) for K O’Driscoll (55); Bart Daly (Newmarket) for R Deane (64).

Limerick:  B Scanlon; J McCarthy, P Browne, P White; S Cahill, I Corbett, S O’Dea; G Hegarty, D Treacy; B Fanning, P Ranahan, S Buckley; S McSweeney, S Kelly, D Neville.

Subs used: C Moran; S Flanagan; J Naughton.