Cork 1-9 Tipperary 2-5:AN INJURY-TIME goal by defender Noel Galvin swept Cork to a narrow victory over Tipperary in a thrilling Munster under-21 football final at Semple Stadium, Thurles on Saturday.

Hot favourites Cork, a man short, looked on their way to defeat as Tipperary, seeking their first title in the grade, hung on desperately to a two-point lead with injury time on the clock.

Cork led 0-4 to 0-2 at half-time but lost midfielder Chris O’Donovan to a second yellow card just before the break.

They suffered a further setback when in the space of four minutes at the start of the second half, Tipperary hit them with two goals.

Timmy Dalton ran on to Brian Fox’s delivery to slip the ball to the Cork net and four minutes later, man of the match, Brian Fox, punished slack Cork defending with a second goal.

Cork, however, kept their cool. Two points from David Goold and another from substitute James Fitzpatrick cut the lead to two points with seven minutes to play but Tipperary looked like holding on.

With time almost up the Tipp defence failed to clear a Cork attack and the ball fell to Noel Galvin who blasted to the net from close range.

This was Tipp’s third successive defeat in the final and they were devastated. No blame though to such as Fox, Ciaran McDonald, John Cagney, Timmy Dalton and Brian Jones who played their hearts out.

Goal hero Galvin, Jamie O’Sullivan, Aidan Walsh, David Goold, and substitute Fitzpatrick were Cork’s key players.

CORK: D Farry; N Galvin (1-0), J O’Sullivan, S McLoughlin; Conor O’Driscoll, A Walsh, B Daly; C O Donovan, K O’Driscoll; C Sheehan, S McCarthy, Colm O’Driscoll; C O’Neill (0-1), D Goold (0-6), P Honohan; Subs: J Fitzpatrick (0-2) for Honohan, M Collins for McCarthy, Honohan for Colm O’Driscoll.

TIPPERARY: M O’Donnell; D Buckley, C McDonald, J Coghlan; C Aylward, P Codd, B Fox (1-2); B Jones, A Moloney; S Carey, J Cagney (0-1), P Acheson; T Dalton (1-1), D Burns (0-1), B Quinn; Subs: T Dunne for Quinn, P McEvoy for Acheson.

Referee: A Mangan (Kerry).