Cork 1-10 Galway 1-9 Cork's perseverance paid off as a late rally secured two points to end a sequence of back-to-back defeats at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday night. It keeps Larry Tompkins's side in the hunt for qualification with three games remaining, though his counterpart, John O'Mahony, is sure to be fuming at letting this one slip.
Ahead by four points during the first half and by a goal with five minutes left Galway still managed to leave empty-handed.
Heavy rain turned the pitch into a quagmire yet the standard of football was high. Tompkins can look back with some degree of satisfaction because it was the introduction of a couple of substitutions which helped turn the game Cork's way in the second half. He started Jim O'Donoghue at centre forward, having replaced the out-of-sorts Bernard Collins at the interval and then late on brought in Skibbereen's Conor McCarthy. Both provided major contributions.
With Galway leading 1-9 to 0-9 McCarthy enjoyed his moment of glory, though Galway centre back John Divilly, who started at midfield before switching following Kevin Walsh's entry, won't have happy memories of his involvement.
He hung on to the ball far too long and was dispossessed by Graham Canty. He had the presence of mind to spot McCarthy standing to the left of goal and despite an acute angle he managed to fire a spectacular shot past Alan Keane to the net.
Cork went in search of a winning score and it arrived from newcomer James O'Shea. A flowing move broke down in the half-forward line. Cork won possession back and from 35 metres O'Shea popped over his third point of the night to edge his side in front, 1-10 to 1-9, with a minute of regular time remaining.
Cork appeared the hungrier side in the opening half with Miceal Ó Croinín looking very sharp at full forward. Yet, despite all their possession they were tied at 0-2 each after 19 minutes. Three minutes later Galway pounced for the first goal.
Centre forward Padhraic Joyce sent a probing pass to Michael Meehan who slammed an stoppable shot past Kevin O'Dwyer. In keeping with the game's trend, Cork fought back to be just 1-3 to 0-5 adrift at the break.
By the 48th minute Cork led 0-9 to 1-4 before Galway took charge. They stunned the home side with four points in as many minutes, Clancy kicking two and Meehan and Derek Savage one each. And when Savage made it a three-point game with another score 10 minutes from the end Galway fancied their chances.
CORK: K O'Dwyer; N O'Donovan, A O'Connor, A Lynch; S Levis, E Sexton, N O'Leary; N Murphy, G Canty; BJ O'Sullivan, B Collins, J Miskella; J O'Shea (0-3), M O Croinín (0-6), C Crowley. Subs: J O'Donoghue (0-1) for Collins, C McCarthy (1-0) for Crowley, P Kissane for Miskella, C Brosnan for O'Sullivan.
GALWAY: A Keane; M Comer, G Fahey, R Fahey; K Brady, K Fitzgerald, S de Paor; J Divilly, K Comer (0-1); M Clancy (0-2), P Joyce (0-1), D O'Brien (0-1); M Meehan (1-2), D Savage (0-2), T Joyce. Subs: K Walsh for R Fahey, P Clancy for Joyce, D Meehan for Brady.
Referee: J Bannon (Longford).
