Rebel treble on the horizon as Cork minors capture All-Ireland title

Cork 1-23 Galway 0-12

Cork captured their first All-Ireland minor title in 20 years to keep hopes of a Rebel treble very much alive after they ousted reigning champions Galway with a magnificent display of powerful hurling in Thurles.

Having defeated Galway in the Under-20 final in midweek, there was pressure on the minors to deliver their part of a treble but man of the match William Buckley said they didn’t allow that to distract them.

“We put the pressure at the back of our minds and just motored on. We knew this would be the toughest test,” said Buckley.

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“We’ve been playing with each other since U-13 in development squads, everyone knows each other. We’re friends with each other off the pitch so it’s great.”

Nine different players hit the target in the opening half for Cork as their strong running and excellent use of the ball saw them build up a 0-16 to 0-7 interval lead.

The Rebels, having opted to play with the breeze, led by 0-9 to 0-4 at the first water break with both midfielders Mikey Finn and Cillian Tobin scoring along with four of the six forwards.

Galway kept in touch with a couple of frees from Rory Burke and good efforts from play from Michéal Power and wing-back Dylan Dunne.

William Buckley got his second point of the match on the resumption for Cork and corner-back Darragh O’Sullivan also scored his second point of the match to extend their lead to 0-11 to 0-4 after 18 minutes.

Power got his second point for Galway and Burke landed another free to cut the gap to five but the next five points came from a free-flowing Cork side with Diarmuid Healy shooting his third point of the half and Jack Leahy, David Cremin, Eoin O'Leary and impressive centre-back Ben O'Connor also hitting the target after another crossfield sideline out of defence from midfielder Finn.

Darren Shaughnessy became only the second Galway forward to score from play when he reduced the margin to 0-16 to 0-7 just before the break.

Jack Leahy extended Cork’s lead with a point within a minute of the restart and then Eoin O’Leary set up David Cremin and he finished low to the net to make it 1-17 to 0-7.

Two more points from Burke and one from Darren Shaughnessy reduced the deficit but Cork led by 1-19 to 0-10 at the second water.

Leahy tacked on another couple of points and Buckley added another as Healy picked off his fourth of the night, while Power responded with a couple of points for a Galway side who relinquished their crown just 42 days since they won it - but they were beaten in too many positions to mount a serious defence of their crown, against a Cork side who won all four matches this season by double digits.

It’s now down to Cork senior hurlers to complete the clean sweep for the first time since they only achieved it in 1970.

Cork: P O'Sullivan; D O'Sullivan (0-2), K Lyons, J Byrne; J Dwyer, B O'Connor (0-1), T Wilk; M Finn (0-2, one sideline), C Tobin (0-1); D Healy (0-4), B Nyhan, D Cremin (1-2); W Buckley (0-3), J Leahy (0-7, three frees), E O'Leary (0-1) Subs: A Walsh for Nyhan (half-time), R Sheahan for Wilk (45-46), for Dwyer (53mins), O O'Regan for Cremin (55m), K Wallace for Tobin (58m), T O'Connell for O'Leary (59m).

Galway: D Walsh; J O'Connor, T Leen, M Tarpey; D Dunne (0-1), D Davoren, N Gill; J Ryan, C Lawless; D Shaughnessy (0-2), M Power (0-4), D Neary; J Cosgrove, R Burke (0-5, four frees), O Lohan. Subs: M O'Connor for Ryan (36mins), C Whelan for Lawless (37m), A Keady for Cosgrove (38m), C Donoghue for Lohan (47m), C Head for Dunne (57m).

Referee: C Cunning (Antrim).