Cork conquer with the minimum of fuss

ALLIANZ NHL DIVISION ONE Cork 0-17 Dublin 1-11:CRISIS IN the happy hunting crowd. Parnell Park used to be a difficult place to come to.

Yesterday the Dublin hurlers coughed up two league points just as compliantly as the footballers had done the previous evening.

Cork came, saw and caught the bus home without too much fuss. Another couple of points tucked away. They scarcely had to break sweat in a game which never really approached championship pace. Business as usual for a regime the hallmark of which has been the absence of fuss.

“We faded out for a little while in the second half,” said Denis Walsh afterwards. “Dropped the tempo really. Fellas taking a breather perhaps. We got the bit between our teeth again with 15 minutes to go and we were alright after that.”

Dublin, for their part, had enough wides to regret at their leisure but generally failed to match the visitors in terms of tempo and intensity. Alan McCrabbe’s spectacular late goal was aesthetically delightful and placed a far more acceptable gloss on the score than Dublin’s performance had earned.

A league campaign, which had promised so much for Dublin may come down to a shootout with Limerick for the right to play in Division One again next year. His side’s lack of consistency will age Anthony Daly prematurely.

No such worries for Denis Walsh. Quiet and inscrutable Walsh has played his hand well throughout the league. Critics by the Lee (surely not!) bemoan the lack of a distinctive style of gameplan but, a year on from the Balkan-like split which tore Cork in half, Walsh’s selections have been clever and have kept his dressingroom on edge in the best sense of the word.

If Walsh needed proof that most of his wealth lies in defence and midfield yesterday was it. Resting John Gardiner and giving a start to Midleton’s Aidan Ryan was the one experiment. It worked. Cork defended superbly forcing Anthony Daly into withdrawing five of his six starting forwards. Some big Dublin reputations were simply put through the shredder.

At the other end Cork have yet to find anything like a saviour. Denis Walsh ceded to demands to play Aisake Ó hAilpín and Michael Cussen as pair of 6ft 7in telegraph poles at centre forward and full forward respectively.

If Walsh had his doubts they were borne out. Both big men ended up with a point each but Cussen in particular was troubled and his marker Tomas Brady, not notably tall for a full back, who emerged as Dublin’s best player.

More encouraging for Cork was Pa Horgan’s form. After several seasons being touted as the next big thing, Horgan looks at last to be pulling his weight. He had six points from play yesterday, leaving Niall Corcoran wondering what exactly has become of his form.

If Cork can afford to unleash John Gardiner to midfield come the summer and let Cathal Naughton roam and exploit his pace away from the sort of shemozzling he has no taste for, than another piece of the jigsaw will be in place.

Dublin started well, trading points with Cork for the guts of half an hour by which time both sides had four each. It went to five points apiece before Cork remembered that they would have to live with themselves at half-time. Quickly Tom Kenny, Ben O’Connor and Naughton tacked on points for an interval lead.

Dublin were nonplussed. Even when Cork came out and scored the first two points of the second half through Horgan’s eloquent striking. Five points in it and there was little Dublin could do to suggest they deserved to be any closer. Their half-forward line was being digested whole. David O’ Callaghan, so often the redeemer, was anonymous. David Treacy looked like a kidnapped man trying to smuggle word of his talent to the outside world. McCrabbe not wandering to the middle third as usual looked to have something. Just not an All Star quantity of it.

What worked best for Dublin was Paul Ryan’s introduction. The young Ballyboden player rolled up the sleeves yesterday and was part of anything good which Dublin did. Shane Ryan made a cameo appearance.

Cork stretched their lead to various lengths during the second half before Paul Ryan shifted a smart ball in from the right and McCrabbe pulled sweetly for a fine goal. Even that though just served to reignite Cork who finished out with two points, one from Midleton’s Luke O’Farrell, a genuine dark horse (with pace) for a starting spot in Cork’s front six when the ground hardens.

DUBLIN: G Maguire; N Corcoran, T Brady, O Gough; S Hiney, J Boland, M O'Brien; J McCaffrey (0-2, frees), S Durkin (0-1); P Kelly, L Rushe, L Ryan; D O'Callaghan, D Treacy (0-1), A McCrabbe (1-6, four frees). Subs: S Lambert for L Ryan (ht); K Flynn for D O'Callaghan (43 mins); P Ryan (0-1)for P Kelly (56 mins); S Ryan for D Treacy (62 mins), P Carton for L Rushe (66 mins).

CORK: D Óg Cusack; S O'Neill, E Cadogan, S Murphy; A Ryan, R Curran, S Óg O hAilpín; T Kenny (0-1), C Naughton (0-2); B O'Connor (0-4, two frees), A Ó hAilpín (0-1), G Callinan; P O'Sullivan (0-1), M Cussen (0-1), P Horgan (0-6). Subs: J Gardiner for S Ó hAilpín (52 mins); J O'Connor for G Callinan (52 mins); L O'Farrell (0-1) for P O' Sullivan (60 mins).

Referee: B Galvin(Offaly)