Galway progress at Cork’s expense

Galway 1-14 Cork 1-10

Sean Og de Paor wheels away after scoring a fine goal for Galway (© Inpho)

Galway booked their place in the All Ireland quarter-finals this afternoon by dispatching an out-of-sorts Cork side by four points at Croke Park.

Galway could, and perhaps should, have killed off their opponents earlier in the match after surging into10 point lead after just 20 minutes as Cork failed to register a single score until the 26th minute.But the Tribesmen made heavy weather of it in the second half and a spirited Cork fightback brought them right back into it and within a point of Galway just five minutes from time.

In the end, however, Galway were too strong and late points from Joyce brothers Padraig and Tommy steadied the ship and made sure of a deserved victory.

After their exploits in the Munster final seven days agoCork appeared lethargic and lead-footed in the opening exchanges. Indeed, it took them fully 26 minutes to register a score when Finan Murray’s goal pegged back a then rampant Galway side.

Right from the throw-in the Cork backs were simply unable to live with the pace and invention of a Galway forward line led superbly by full-foward Padraig Joyce.

In the first twenty minutes Kevin O’Dwyer’s goal was besieged with Galway pouring forward at every opportunity. Padraig Joyce grabbed three scores himself with Jar Fallon helping himself to two and when Sean Og de Paor punished some dreadful defending with a goal it appeared there would be no way back for a sorry looking Cork outfit.

De Paor’s goal came when he seized upon a shoddy clearance, dribbled the ball forward soccer-style andstroked the ball past O’Dwyer into the corner.

At the other end of the pitch the Galway defenders were coping easily with the little Cork were managing to throw at them.When, on the few occasions Cork did manage to get the ball into their forwards, they seemed bereft of ideas and turned the ball over with embarrassingfrequency.

It wasn’t until Murray broke forward against the run of play and buried the ball in the Galway net that Cork had shown any initiative in front of goal. The goal helped Cork establish a foothold in the game but it wasn’t until the 35th minute that they added to it - a Corkery 45 securing their only other score of the half - and they went into the break six points adrift.

Cork came out fighting in the second-half, Larry Tompkins’ advice still ringing in their ears, and Brendan Jer O'Sullivan kicked the first point of the half. Gradually, the belief of last week began to reappear and the Galway lead was steadily whittled away.

Galway themselves were guilty of overplaying the ball in front of goal and were kicking too many wides for comfort. And if Cork had made the most of two goal opportunities midway through the second half - Mark O’Sullivan in particular had a wonderful chance - the outcome could have been totally different.

As the half wore on, Cork looked more and more capable of pulling off an unlikely comeback and a flurry of points in the last ten minutes reduced the deficit to just one point. But Galway reasserted themselves in the closing minutes, slotting home three more points to leave Cork dead and buried.