Dublin's sharpness brings Cork up to speed

GAA/Cork 3-18 Dublin 2-16THE CORK hurlers returned from their league exile yesterday, and they huffed and they puffed, and then they blew Dublin away. It wasn't quite as straightforward as that but you can't beat a nursery rhyme intro.

It was a game of two halves, with Dublin sharper, livelier and far more productive for the opening 35 minutes. At one stage they were nine points up, and still turned around on the comfortable score of 1-12 to 1-6. Parnell Park hadn't had it as good in years.

The three-month lay-off because of the players' strike had clearly sent Cork into oxygen debt, but they soon caught their breath in the second half, outscoring Dublin 1-6 to 0-1 in the opening 15 minutes, and moved two points in front. That looked like the end of Dublin's chance, but they weren't going to let it go without a fight.

So the game hit exciting heights for the last 20 minutes as both sides chased victory. Amazingly, Dublin pulled themselves back in front and David O'Callaghan was their shining light. He hit two massive scores and then set up a goal for substitute Peter Kelly, and against all the odds Dublin were three points clear again.

As if on cue, up stepped a trio of Cork's classiest players. John Gardiner, Tom Kenny and Neil Ronan hit the next five scores between them, each one as crushing as the next, and finally took the heart out of Dublin.

O'Callaghan briefly cut the lead to the minimum, before a fluky goal from Cork substitute Fintan O'Leary, following a sideline ball from Kieran Murphy, helped Cork to the five-point winning margin.

They hardly deserved such comfort in the end, but couldn't be denied the win either.

"We had to dig very deep for that," said Cork manager Gerald McCarthy. "I mean there were lots of times when I thought we wouldn't win. After half-time we really needed to up our aggression levels, because Dublin were cleaning us out. We managed to do that but were still very lucky to win by a five-point margin. That flattered us, to be honest.

"We were finding it very hard to get into the game, judging breaking ball, little things like that. That's where the lay-off showed up, I suppose, because we were certainly off the pace for the first 20 minutes. Fair play to Dublin, they really put it up to us."

Still, Dublin's impressive start was not entirely down to Cork's rustiness. Stuart Mullen was in brilliant form with the placed ball, hitting seven first-half frees from left, right and centre. John McCaffrey and Simon Lambert held up midfield. Lambert's fine sideline on 17 minutes created their first goal, with Kevin Flynn directing it to the net the second time of asking.

Cork's opening goal came on two minutes, a fairly simple tap home for Neil Ronan, again at the second time of asking, but that was the exception in an otherwise directionless Cork attack. It was another 12 minutes before newcomer Brian Corry hit their second score, and McCarthy was forced into two switches before the break as Cork's problems increased.

Dublin, leading 1-11 to 1-3, could easily have gone 11 points clear but Peadar Carton missed a sitter of a goal chance, with only Donal Óg Cusack to beat. He shot just wide, and while that could have been the defining score, it now looks like the defining miss.

Still, the Dublin supporters didn't have much to complain about at the break, which also saw the Dublin colleges team paraded around Parnell Park with the Leinster championship trophy, won on Saturday afternoon in convincing style over Kilkenny CBS.

But the feel-good factor was short-lived, as Cork quickly began their second-half comeback.

Ronan's second goal followed a searing run from Kenny at midfield, where Dublin were suddenly badly exposed, and Cork's defence also displayed far more aggression, particularly newcomer Kieran McGann.

Ronan ended with 2-4, and Kenny and Gardiner both got 0-3.

So despite forfeiting their two opening league games, Cork are still level with Dublin on two points and cannot yet be ruled out of making the play-offs.

Gardiner, the new Cork captain, hinted at that very ambition.

"We were training away ourselves over the winter, but a good, hard league game like that is just what we wanted. We still have a fighting chance of making the play-offs if results go our way.

"The league is always important to us, but more so this year given the time we lost."

CORK:D Óg Cusack; S O'Neill, D O'Sullivan, C O'Connor; E Cadogan, J Gardiner (0-3, two frees, one 65), K McGann (0-1); T Kenny (0-3),J Barrett; K Murphy, B Corry (0-2), T McCarthy (0-1); P Horgan (0-2, one free), N Ronan (2-4), P Cronin (0-2). Subs:K Canty for Barrett (25 mins), S Murphy for O'Connor (28 mins), K Hartnett for Cadogan (45 mins), F O'Leary (1-0)for Horgan (56 mins).

DUBLIN:G Maguire; P Brennan, S Hiney, P Bergin; M Carton, T Brady, J Boland; J McCaffrey (0-1), S Lambert (0-1); S Mullen (0-7, six frees), D O'Dwyer (0-2), R O'Carroll (0-1); D O'Callaghan (0-4, two frees), K Flynn (1-0),P Carton. Subs: P Kelly (1-0)for Mullen (49 mins), A McCrabbe for Carton (64 mins), D Curtin for O'Carroll (65 mins).

Referee: S Whelan(Wexford).