Cork's lethargic, error-ridden victory over a tenacious Clare at Pairc Ui Chaoimh put their supporters through 70 plus minutes of agony yesterday. Larry Tompkins' absence, due to the death of his mother, may have been a factor but whatever the reason Cork did not perform and victory eventually fell to them as much by accident as design.
Second-half substitute Colin Corkery appeared to have done untold damage to Cork's prospects in the 57th minute when sending a penalty wide with his team grimly holding on to a two-point lead. "Its difficult to settle quickly when coming on like that. I would have preferred to have been in from the start", said Corkery, who went on to score two match-clinching pointed frees.
The first, with Clare again only two points adrift, was belted over with his right foot from 45 metres in the third minute of injury time. The second was taken with his left foot and knocked over from an angle on the right. Playing against the breeze in the first half, Cork were uninspiring up front and went through the first 16 minutes of the match without scoring. By this time Clare had put three points on the board and were making the pre-match predictions look quite silly. What seemed even more ominous for Cork was the fact that key players such as Brendan Ger O'Sullivan, Joe Kavanagh, Phil Clifford and Mark O'Sullivan, later to be replaced by Corkery, were quite hopeless when attempting to score.
And goal chances were provided and well created before the inevitable fumble killed the move.
But when Cork's first goal arrived through Brendan Ger O'Sullivan almost 17 minutes in and was followed by a point from the same player, the dye looked to be cast. Cork went on to take a three-point lead in the space of four minutes. There was never any disguising the fact that Cork's midfield - they started with Ciaran O'Sullivan and Nicholas Murphy filling the roles - was none too happy and the breaking ball was generally snapped up by their opponents. An even more stark reminder of the severe task ahead of Cork came in the shape of Colm Mullen's goal to level the scores after 22 minutes. Denis Russell got free twice on the left of a suspect Cork cover to hoist good centres, the first of which was knocked down by Paul Hehir in front of goal for Mullen to score. Then Mick O'Shea's pile-driver skimmed over the bar, with Kevin O'Dwyer stranded only moments after Russell sent over a spectacular point. By this stage he Cork attack, especially their wing forwards, had to work overtime by foraging back in defence. Clare's two-point advantage was restored but Cork managed to scramble parity by half time thanks to points from Aidan Dorgan and Brendan O'Sullivan, both sides having scored 1-5. Mark O'Connell at wing back typified the great character of Clare's defensive qualities.
"We were lucky enough to escape. If we are to stand any chance against Kerry a massive improvement would be needed," said Cork selector, Paddy Sheahan.
Cork made some use of the following breeze towards the Blackrock end in the second half and got a huge boost when Finian Murray fisted a Joe Kavanagh centre into the net five minutes after the restart. But Clare, with the Considines generally shading it in midfield, were never far away. Stephen Hickey, a second-half sub, went very close to scoring when firing a searing shot that seemed net-bound only for O'Dwyer to bring off the save of the match.
Cork, with Eoghan Sexton playing inspiring stuff in the half-back line, could never work themselves clear of the danger until Corkery kicked two of the most important points of his career.
Sheahan tried to put on a brave face afterwards and said: "The day we give in will be the day we pack it up." Clare's manager, Pat Begley said: "Cork's two goals came at the wrong time for us. They were sucker punches. For in each instance we had them on the run".
Begley added: "Joe Considine was a desperate loss to us when he had to retire injured and, after Colm Mullen retired with a hip injury, we got plenty of chances but kicked a further six wides."