Cork 2-9 Mayo 0-10: A first victory for Cork and a first defeat for Mayo reflects the unpredictable opening to the league at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday night.
A crowd of 3,209 witnessed a topsy-turvy encounter which wasn't decided until substitute Colin Corkery struck in injury-time.
Corkery was introduced after 52 minutes and it hardly mattered he only touched the ball once, because his explosive finish to Philip Clifford's well-worked pass yielded a second Cork goal. For coach Billy Morgan the victory came as a big relief.
"I think another defeat would have been bad for morale. In fairness to the players they've been working hard in training, but they've not been getting their rewards in games. This win will certainly ease the pressure," he said.
Fortune favoured Cork at a critical stage in the second half when they led by 0-8 to 0-6. A long sequence of passes ended with Colin Crowley attempting a shot for a point from out on the right after 54 minutes only for the ball to deceive Mayo goalkeeper John Healy and dip under the crossbar.
"It gave us a bit of breathing space. I honestly thought the ball was going over the bar and I would have gladly taken a point, but I was naturally delighted to see the ball end up in the net," Morgan added.
Cork led 0-6 to 0-5 at the interval after the sides were level four times during a half in which Micheál Ó Croinín was the home side's most effective attacker and Austin O'Malley and Trevor Mortimer impressed for the visitors.
Within 10 seconds of the restart Damien Munnelly restored equality. A couple of fine points from man-of-the-match Ó Croinín edged Cork in front and Crowley's goal at last opened up a sizeable gap, 1-8 to 0-6.
Almost immediately it needed a brave block by Anthony Lynch to deny Mortimer a certain goal, the full forward settling for a fisted point after gathering the rebound. Seven wides hindered Mayo's prospects of narrowing the deficit.
"We kicked a lot of bad wides. Last week we were a lot more clinical, but not this time. You must convert your chances at this level," coach John Maughan said.
CORK: K Murphy; S O'Brien, G Canty, N O'Leary; E Sexton, A Lynch, M Cronin; D Hurley, M O'Sullivan (0-1); A Cronin, M Ó Croinín (0-7, five frees), C McCarthy; J O'Shea, C Crowley (1-0), C Brosnan (0-1). Subs: P Clifford for O'Shea, N Murphy for A Cronin, C Corkery (1-0) for Brosnan.
MAYO: J Healy; J Nallen, G Ruane, L O'Malley; F Costello, G Mullins, C Moran; B Ruane, R McGarrity; A O'Malley (0-5, three frees), BJ Padden, D Sweeney; J Keane, T Mortimer (0-4), D Munnelly (0-1). Subs: S Malee for Padden, A Moran for Keane, D Geraghty for Costello, R McNamara for Sweeney, J Varley for McNamara.
Referee: M Monahan (Kildare).
