Irish News, Features & Sport

Cork 0-23 Clare 0-15

In windy conditions on Sunday afternoon Cork outmuscled and outfought Clare to advance to the Munster Final where they will pit their wits with Limerick. Playing against a stiff breeze in the first half Cork worked tirelessly to close down Clare and ensure they kept in touch going in at half time. Clare suffered an early setback with injury to star attacker John Conlon but that doesn’t excuse the fact that their forwards didn’t fire on the day. In the first half they had four goal chances and took none of them each time giving the Cork team added fuel to their tank. Credit to Cork they never let Clare settle and unsettled them with constant pressure. Cork went in at half time three points behind but knowing they had the breeze in the second and vitally came out and from the thrown-in they brought the intensity. Cork scored a few early accurate points to increase their confidence and put the wind behind their sails. Clare were now chasing the game and needed somebody or a few leaders to step forward. Alas nobody did with wasteful passing and inaccurate shooting now common in their game as Cork grew in stature. All of Cork’s forwards scored from play as did subs Coughlan and Cronin and together they worked well as a unit with debutant Seamus Harnedy very impressive at centre-forward. Continue reading →