CORK made it through to the Munster under-21 football final but not before they were pushed right to the end by a plucky Waterford side in a somewhat scrappy but thoroughly absorbing encounter at Fermoy last night.
Although physically stronger, Cork rarely managed to combine with any great fluency and they leave it 0-6 to 0-3 at half-time, ended up relying heavily on free taker Derek Barrett, to keep the scoreboard man busy.
Although Waterford opened the scoring with a point from centre, forward Gavin Keane after just two minutes, Barrett comfortably replied and then produced another equaliser two minutes later after Pat Crotty had edged the visitors back in front.
Two more points from Barrett, together with a fine 50-yard effort from Micheal Cronin, hinted at a Cork landslide but Waterford came back strongly, replying with a late point from Gavin Keane to.
Again with Anthony Lynch and Sean Og O hAilpin superb in defence, Cork proceeded to notch up the points from the restart, easing into a 0-9 to a 0-4 lead after 43 minutes.
When Timmy McCarthy blasted into the net six minutes later, it looked all over for Waterford. To their credit, they battled right to the end and were fully rewarded when Stephen Cunningham placed substitute Kieran Curran for a well worked goal that ensured respectability on the scoreboard.
