Cork 6-25

Offaly 2-11

JOHNNY CAROLAN REPORTS

THE bookmakers didn’t offer much of a chance of an upset in Thurles on Sunday, but an All-Ireland SHC quarter-final against Offaly was still a game that Cork had to win.

A strong start ensured that any banana skin was avoided and a semi-final meeting with Galway was secured without much fuss.

While there might have been concern in some quarters that the Rebels could succumb to the same fate as Limerick against Dublin a year ago, Cork manager Ben O’Connor felt that the response to losing the Munster final against the Shannonsiders showed the resolve of the squad.

‘Ah, they drove it on themselves in fairness,’ he said.

‘We trained on the Tuesday, we did a light session, then we were off until the Saturday and then after that they came back in.

‘Even for myself, you’d be disappointed for a few days, but it wasn’t the be-all and the end-all, losing the Munster final, because of the way the championship is.

‘Years ago, that was it, knockout and gone for us, whereas now it’s on to the third competition, the All-Ireland series.

‘So, look, we've our first game out of the way now and we’re inside in an All-Ireland semi-final and we'll be going gung-ho again for that.’

Alan Walsh scores his first goal against Offaly. (Photo: George Hatchell)

Five first-half goals put Cork in an impregnable position, leading by 23 points at half-time. While there was a natural slowing of the scoring rate in the second half – and a couple of sloppy goals were given away – the advantage had stretched to 26 by the end.

Job done on what was an occasion that could be enjoyed before a crowd of 40,185 that was overwhelmingly red – but it’s parked fairly quickly.

‘We got a run-out, in front of a massive Cork crowd again,’ O’Connor said, ‘a load of young ones out there again that mightn’t be able to get tickets for going to Dublin, so it's great to be able to get a game there and boys stayed outside, pictures and selfies things.

‘You get something out of every game you play, that's after clearing the memory banks now again and we’re just driving on.’

Cork had made four changes from the Munster final, some injury-enforced, and one of those coming in, Alan Walsh, marked his first championship start with a pair of goals, the first inside five minutes as he rose to catch Mark Coleman’s sideline cut before finishing well.

With the first two points already on the board prior to that, Cork were up and running and there was rarely any let-up in the first half.

A second goal came as defenders Eoin Downey and Seán O’Donoghue combined to set up Brian Hayes for the first of what would be three goals – his 5-13 across six games is more than what he scored in winning an All-Star last year – and a third goal arrived as Diarmuid Healy provided the delivery for Walsh to again demonstrate his skyscraping prowess. There was brief uncertainty for those watching as the ball looked to stay alive after his shot but it bounced out off the lower frame of the net.

Even when Offaly dropped a sweeper back, Cork were able to utilise Mark Coleman as a spare man and his distribution ensured a steady flow of scores.

The fourth goal came in the 28th minute, with Healy finding the ever-busy Shane Barrett before he exchanged passes with Darragh Fitzgibbon – the captain showing no ill-effects following his bout of appendicitis – and fired home.

A good block by Offaly corner-back Ciarán Burke denied Walsh a hat-trick goal and Hayes was pulled for a thrown pass as he sought to play Alan Connolly in, but there was time for a fifth before half-time as Healy and Walsh combined for Hayes’s second.

It was 5-14 to 0-6 at the break, with Offaly restricting themselves to one change for the second half – however, there was a loud cheer for the announcement that Hawkeye would no longer be in operation, following three long delays in the opening half, one of which saw a Fitzgibbon point cancelled as the Brian Duignan’s ‘wide’ at the other end had actually been a point.

Hayes grabbed his third with less than three minutes on the clock in the new half, the beneficiary of a driving run from the impressive Hugh O’Connor and Seán O’Donoghue and sub William Buckley got on the scoresheet as the advantage stretched to 6-19 to 0-8.

As can often be the way of things in such games, the leaders’ intensity drops as they run the bench and the losing side can make a dent in the lead – Offaly did that with two goals in three minutes.

Sub Oisín Kelly scored the first and then set up Adam Screeney for the second but even with that, the lead never dropped below 20 points. Séamus Harnedy and Robbie O’Flynn were other subs to add to the Cork tally as they cruised to the finish. A bigger test awaits on Saturday week.

‘I did see the Leinster final and I thought they were very impressive,’ O’Connor said.

‘We found it very hard to play against them up in the league this year. They have a different kind of style.

‘But, look, we weren’t looking at them because they weren't in our path, now they are, so the boys will look at them now, we'll work on our own gameplan and see what we can come up with.’

Scorers 

Cork: Brian Hayes 3-0; Alan Connolly 0-7 (4f, 0-2 65); Alan Walsh 2-1; Shane Barrett 1-3; Darragh Fitzgibbon (1f), Brian Roche, Diarmuid Healy, Séamus Harnedy 0-2 each; Eoin Downey, Robert Downey, Mark Coleman, Seán O’Donoghue, Robbie O’Flynn, William Buckley 0-1 each.

Offaly: Adam Screeney 1-2 (1f); Oisín Kelly 1-0; Brian Duignan 0-3; Eoghan Cahill 0-2 (0-1 f, 0-1 65); Ter Guinan, Daniel Bourke, Liam Hoare 0-1 each.

Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Damien Cahalane, Seán O’Donoghue; Eoin Downey, Robert Downey, Mark Coleman; Brian Roche, Hugh O’Connor; Darragh Fitzgibbon, Shane Barrett, Diarmuid Healy; Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes, Alan Walsh.

Subs: William Buckley for Barrett, Barry Walsh for Hayes (both 44), Séamus Harnedy for Roche, Robbie O’Flynn for Fitzgibbon (both 52), Ger Millerick for Coleman (58).

Offaly: Liam Hoare; Ciarán Burke, Ben Conneely, Patrick Taaffe; Ross Ravenhill, Ter Guinan, Killian Sampson; Dan Ravenhill, Cathal King; Shane Rigney, Daniel Bourke, Conor Doyle; Adam Screeney, Brian Duignan, Eighan Cahill.

Subs: Ruairí Kelly for Ross Ravenhill (half-time), Oisín Kelly for Rigney (41), Colin Spain for Dan Ravenhill (48), Eoin Burke for Cahill (51), Luke Watkins for Doyle (65).

Referee: Seán Stack (Dublin).