Dublin 3-11

Cork 2-13

JOE Carroll is convinced that Cork are on the right track in their quest to land the biggest prize in ladies’ football.

The Rebels boss saw his team come within minutes of dethroning All-Ireland champions Dublin last Saturday night with a performance that rubber-stamped his belief in this emerging team.

Cork led by five points with less than four minutes left in this All-Ireland quarter-final at Parnell Park before Dublin struck for two late, late goals that broke the Rebels’ resolve.

This defeat will hurt.

Cork deserved more from the game, but given they were well beaten 3-15 to 0-7 by Dublin at the same stage last season, their progress is evident.

‘I think we’ve definitely proved we’ve closed the gap big time to the top teams. We’re within the reckoning now. With three minutes to go, 57 minutes on the clock, we were five points up and we’d done more than close the gap – we’d gone ahead of Dublin,’ Carroll told The Southern Star.

‘There’s huge disappointment after playing so well, but I’m also hugely proud of the performance the players put in. They’ve come a long way, even from 12 months ago at the same stage when they were hammered by Dublin.

‘Hopefully there’s more to come. It might take another 12 months or it might take two years, but there’s an All-Ireland in this team if they continue the progress they’ve made over the past year.’

Cork's Abigail Ring celebrates after scoring her side's second goal. (Photo: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile)

The overwhelming sense this week is of a missed opportunity.

Leah Hallihan showed Cork’s intent with a second-minute goal. The Rebels weren’t going to be pushed over this time.

With scores from Áine Terry O’Sullivan, defender Melissa Duggan and top scorer Katie Quirke, Cork more than matched a Dublin team that were boosted by a Niamh Hetherton goal after 11 minutes.

In a game of fine margins, points from Sadbh McGoldrick and Áine Terry O’Sullivan (2) had nudged Cork in front before the break, before Kate Sullivan levelled.

There was time for captain Emma Cleary to give Cork a one-point lead at the break, 1-7 to 1-6.

‘What pleased me the most was the football we played, and the intensity we played with,’ Carroll said.

‘I can only judge it from standing on the line as manager, and that can be hard at times, but I thought it was probably the best game of the championship so far because it was tight all the way through. There was fierce, fast football. Dublin got great scores, we got great scores.

‘I was delighted with our belief as well. We didn’t start that well, we were against the breeze in the first half and we could easily have caved in a bit, but we didn’t. We battled away, and we battled away big time.’

Cork's Leah Hallihan holds off Dublin's Hannah Leahy. (Photo: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile)

The second half was just as tight, with the teams swapping the lead before it looked like Cork made a decisive push for the finish line.

After another Quirke score, sub Abigail Ring goaled in the 51st minute. Cork led by five. The shock was on.

But then came the heartbreak.

First, Orlagh Nolan rose highest to punch a Hetherton delivery to the net.

Within moments, Dublin were ahead when a poor Cork kick-out was intercepted by Kate Sullivan who kicked the ball into an empty net for the winning goal.

It was a sickener.

There was time for Dublin’s Kate Donaghy and Quirke (free) to trade scores, but the Rebels couldn’t recover from the hammer blow of the Dublin goals.

Carroll, whose two-year term as manager is now up, feels ‘huge progress’ has been made this season. He can point to Cork’s Division 1 league success, and how Cork rallied in the business end of the All-Ireland series, beating Waterford away in a must-win game before pushing the All-Ireland champions to the brink.

The Munster series didn’t go to plan, but Carroll puts that down to growing pains as a new-look Cork team finds its feet at the top level.

‘Look, huge progress has been made. Winning the league was the highlight because there was a trophy at the end of it, but I think the performances against Dublin and Waterford, in particular, were really high quality,’ Carroll says.

‘Even if you look back at the Armagh match (in the All-Ireland group stage), there was a 20-minute spell in the second half where we were exceptionally good as well, and Armagh are in the All-Ireland semi-final.

‘The players have gained a huge amount of belief in themselves. We struggled in the Munster championship, but I still believe that was a knock-on effect from having such a long league campaign and not really getting a break between the two competitions.

‘There’s definitely progress made, but there’s a lot more progress still to make.’

Scorers 

Dublin: K Sullivan 1-4; O Nolan 1-3 (1f); N Hetherton 1-0; J Egan 0-2; L Grendon, K Donaghy 0-1 each.

Cork: K Quirke 0-5 (5f); L Hallihan 1-1; A Ring 1-0; AT O’Sullivan 0-3; M Duggan, S McGoldrick, G Murphy, E Cleary 0-1 each.

Dublin: A Shiels; N Crowley, R Hartnett, H Leahy; S McIntyre, H McGinnis, N Donlon; N Hetherton, L Magee; A Timothy, O Nolan, C O’Connor; L Grendon, J Egan, K Sullivan.

Subs: M Ní Scanaill for Hartnett (ht), E Kearney for Timothy (44), M Davoren for Egan (47), K Donaghy for Grendon (51), C Rowe for McIntyre (58).

Cork: S Murphy; M Duggan, S Kelly, S Callanan; A Corcoran, M O’Callaghan, R Corkery; S McGoldrick, K Redmond; A O’Mahony, G Murphy, E Cleary; L Hallihan, K Quirke, AT O’Sullivan.

Subs: A Ring for Hallihan (48), R O’Regan for O’Sullivan (53).

Referee: Eoghan O’Neill (Kildare).