Cork swiftly and ruthlessly expose gulf in class

Cork 5-17 Waterford 2-8:ALL-IRELAND champions Cork duly breezed into a provincial showdown at Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday. They exposed the yawning gap in standards between counties at opposite ends of the football divide and treated the 3,365 crowd to a rare goal-fest in the process.

It’s no exaggeration to claim the tie as a contest was dead and buried after the opening quarter, when Cork, aided by the wind, jumped 3-7 to 0-2 clear.

“We got a good start and played some of our best football for a long time in the opening 20 minutes. Coming in as underdogs, Waterford didn’t play as well as they could in that period and it became a very difficult job for them,” said Cork coach Conor Counihan.

Waterford were left helpless by the power and accuracy of Cork’s flowing attacking moves, though there was good fortune in John Miskella’s fourth-minute goal, which dipped over the head of goalkeeper Kieran Cotter from some 60 yards out.

The first of Daniel Goulding’s pair after eight minutes showed Cork at their lethal best, Paul Kerrigan, Ciarán Sheehan and Donncha O’Connor combining brilliantly for Goulding to score with a slick finish to make it 2-4 to 0-1.

And it got worse for the visitors in the 18th minute when Cork once again pieced together a breath-taking move which sliced open the Waterford defence.

Pa Kelly picked out Alan O’Connor with a gloriously weighted pass and he immediately found Goulding, who sent Kerrigan in for another gem of a goal.

Amazingly Cork could only add an Aidan Walsh point to their tally in the second quarter as Waterford showed plenty of fight and spirit, kicking some fine points from Brian Phelan, Shane Briggs and Tommy Prendergast.

Waterford received a timely boost with a penalty on the stroke of half-time when Eoin Cadogan fouled Gary Hurney, who tucked the resulting kick away with some aplomb to leave the score at the break 3-8 to 1-6.

But any hopes of a continuation of a Waterford revival were dashed inside 20 seconds of the restart when Kelly and Donncha O’Connor sent Goulding in for his second and Cork’s fourth goal.

And such was Cork’s firm grip on proceedings that it took Waterford all of 24 minutes to score again with home substitute Fintan Gould chipping in with a goal-of-the-season contender after 43 minutes, firing spectacularly into the top right corner with a stunning drive. That made it 5-11 to 1-6, but Waterford came again to place some respectability on the score line.

Brian Wall’s long-range free deceived Alan Quirke for a second goal for the visitors, who added two more points, though Cork’s place in the final against Kerry was well secured at this stage.

“I think both teams know themselves well at this point. I don’t believe there are tricks up sleeves. It will be the usual Cork and Kerry in Killarney with only a point or two in it all the time,” Counihan declared afterwards.

CORK: A Quirke; E Cadogan, E Cotter (0-1), M Shields; G Canty (capt), J Miskella (1-2), P Kissane; A O’Connor, A Walsh (0-1); C Sheehan (0-1), P Kelly (0-1), F Lynch (0-2); D Goulding (2-2), D O’Connor (0-1, free), P Kerrigan (1-3). Subs: F Goold (1-0) for Sheehan, N Murphy for Walsh (both 38 mins), G Spillane (0-1) for Miskella (44 mins), D O’Sullivan for Shields (54 mins), D Goold (0-2) for Goulding (55 mins).

WATERFORD: K Cotter; M O’Gorman, T O’Gorman, K Connery; E Walsh, S Briggs (0-1), T Grey (capt); M Ahern, B Phelan (0-1); B Wall (1-1, 1-0 free), P Hurney, W Hennessy; G Hurney (1-1, 1-0 penalty), S Fleming (0-2, one free), T Prendergast (0-2). Subs: R Ahearne for Hennessy (32 mins), T Connors for P Hurney (44 mins), C Phelan for Connery (47 mins), K Power for B Phelan (53 mins), J Hurney for Walsh (56 mins).

Referee: P Fox (Westmeath).