Hurling takes a back seat as Cork and Galway put everything in context

Cork 1-26 Galway 0-23

Cork breezed to a league semi-final by maintaining their 100 per cent record with a comfortable win over Galway in front of a crowd of over 13,000 at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday night.

A minute’s silence was observed before the game in memory of Paul Shefflin, younger brother of Galway manager Henry, who died while out running on Friday.

“The message we would have had for our players was that life is for living after such a tragic event like this,” said Galway selector Richie O’Neill.

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“Hurling is these fellows’ lives and we just encouraged them to go out and express themselves the best they could.

“Obviously we would have loved a different result, but to score 0-23 against a team of Cork’s calibre is something we’re really proud of in the circumstances.”

Cork manager Kieran Kingston said a game of hurling had to be placed in context of the sad news emanating from Kilkenny.

“Hurling and all that goes with it is way down the list. It’s not even in the same stratosphere,” he declared.

“It was a strange occasion in many ways and you could see the sadness in our players.

“It was important for us and Cork hurling to extend our sympathies to the extended Shefflin family in this terrible tragedy.”

Cork led from start to finish in a game which never caught fire.

Once again Patrick Horgan led the Cork scoring with 1-13, while Séamus Harnedy also caught the eye with his 0-4.

The bulk of Galway’s scores came from Ronan Glennon and Tom Monaghan from play and the free-taking of Conor Cooney.

Cork led by 1-13 to 0-11 at half-time, the goal coming from Horgan after 27 minutes, when he availed of a mistake by Galway captain Daire Burke, who lost control, allowing the Cork scoring ace flick the ball into space before beating Eanna Murphy in the visiting goal.

Cork’s strong finish to the half helped them establish that five-point advantage as Galway paid for a succession of wides during the opening quarter, building to eight, just one more than Cork, who were also profligate at times, too.

Midfielder Glennon kept his side in touch with three fine points from midfield though Cork’s Shane Barrett fired over one of the best points after Collins picked him with a super pass.

Galway needed a goal to ignite their challenge in the second half, but it never looked like materialising and their plight was reflected in a final wide count of 16.

CORK: P Collins; D Cahalane, D O'Leary, S O'Donoghue; T O'Mahony (0-1), M Coleman (capt, 0-2), R Downey; D Fitzgibbon (0-1), G Millerick (0-1); R O'Flynn (0-2), S Barrett (0-2), J O'Connor; P Horgan (1-13, 10 frees, one 65), A Connolly, S Harnedy (0-4).

Subs: C Lehane for O'Connor (43 mins), S Twomey for Connolly (49), L Meade for Downey (52), C Cahalane for Barrett (62), B Roche for Harnedy (70+2).

GALWAY: E Murphy; J Grealish, D Burke (capt), A Tuohey; T Killeen (0-1), P Mannion, F Burke; J Coen, R Glennon (0-5); T Monaghan (0-4), C Cooney (0-6 frees), J Hastings (0-1); C Mannion (0-1), C Whelan (0-1), G Lee (0-2).

Subs: J Cooney (0-2) for Hastings (42 mins), D Morrissey for Tuohey (44), S Loftus for Coen (57), K Cooney for Lee (67), G Thomas for Monaghan (70).

Referee: T Walsh (Waterford).