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Cork 3-19 Clare 1-23
In Clare, they lay all their songs at Tony Kelly’s feet. Rightly so. The Ballyea man gave another revelatory performance for Clare on a baking Saturday afternoon in Limerick. It wasn’t enough. Brian Lohan’s men are out.
And what a hot test of courage and resilience and a superbly poised closing act this was for Cork to come through. This hectic struggle was played in the home of the All-Ireland champions but it couldn’t have felt more like a Clare home tie had they played in Lisdoonvarna during festival time.
Cork could have melted in the sun during what proved to be Clare’s crescendo on the hour mark, with Shane Golden and Diarmuid Ryan finding space to push the Banner into a 0-21 to 2-14 lead to rapturous returns from the crowd. There were only 3,500 in the ground: they must have all carried megaphones.
Maybe Clare mistimed the aria slightly. There was still a full 10 minutes of normal time to get through. During Clare’s happy time, Kieran Kingston introduced a series of substitutes to devastating effect, a further example of Cork’s emerging talent.
Shane Barrett fired 1-1 from play, his goal the last example of the burning speed on this Cork team. Alan Connolly also had a point from play. And Pat Horgan, not as vivid a leader as Kelly but just as vital, was brilliantly controlled in the white heat, calmly responding to a missed 65 by getting free for two points from play which tilted the momentum back in Cork’s favour.
Kelly, though, is a genius in defeat as much as victory. He might have won this at the death. With Clare trailing by five with 71 minutes on the clock, he went into the edge of the square. He immediately plucked a high ball out of the sun, won a penalty through a foul that saw Niall O’Leary, who was asked to mark the unmarkable, red carded. Kelly’s finish with the placed ball was brilliant.
A murmur now ran through the crowd. To ask for a win with so little time was impossible. But so what? Ryan managed to lob a ball goalward while on one knee. It seemed to hang in the sunshine forever as backs and forwards eyed it up.
It didn’t fall close to Kelly but you knew he would somehow get in his hand anyways. So he did. A sidestep, a jink and the whole afternoon was up for grabs now, the tacticians and coaches and crowd spellbound and hapless. He might have tapped over and hoped for a break and a late equalising chance. But you have to figure he computed the seconds left as he travelled. He went for it all. Patrick Collins, the Cork goalkeeper, had the measure of the shot. Cork cleared and that was that.

Cork’s Mark Coleman challenges Aron Shanagher of Clare during the All-Ireland SHC round two qualifier at the LIT Gaelic Grounds. Photograph: Tommy Dickson/Inpho


But that was just Kelly’s final contribution. During Clare’s second-half rebellion he was irrepressible, firing an outrageous point after thieving a scuffed Cork sideline ball. A minute later, he ran at O’Leary, spun past him and let fly as he was being fouled. John Keenan seemed to have signalled a free but, as though conscious of the aesthetics of the moment, gave the score.
That made it 2-11 to 0-15 but there was an ebullient confidence about Clare’s play which made it seem that they would not be denied here. Conor Cleary, Aidan McCarthy and Ryan became increasingly forceful presences on the field during the period.
This qualifier enhanced the theme of pot-boiling hurling brilliance. It wasn’t the tidiest of games and Clare will look at the missed chances – seven wides during their thunderous revival and know they left a few behind.
Although Kelly and Clare shaped the narrative of the contest, it was ultimately an exhibition of Cork’s attacking flair. They began to pressure the Clare full-back line with route one ball dropping on Horgan and Jack O’Connor from the beginning. They were rewarded with two goals and in the cool of the dressingroom at half-time must have realised they should have had four.
The Clare defence dealt with battles in the air convincingly but were unpicked by a few moments of Cork guile. O’Connor turned sharply on an angled ball from Tim O’Mahony and took his marker Rory Hayes on in a straight sprint – no easy feat. His finish, at an angle and at full speed was excellent. But two minutes later, O’Connor was in again, forcing a terrific save from Eibhear Quilligan.
Séamus Harnedy broke the lines again two minutes before half-time and the warning signs were lit for Clare. It was Shane Kingston who breached them the second time, running onto a weighted pass and although his flick to Horgan was under-played, the Glen man somehow contrived a return pass and Kingston’s finish was clean. Colm Galvin replied with a late point for Clare: that score along with the 0-3 from play by Cathal Malone kept Clare in touch after a battling first half during which they annoyed themselves by firing 10 wides.
It was 2-9 to 0-11 when the teams got a half-time break from the heat. Once again, the pace and quality of the hurling in the punishing heatwave was admirable as the action built into that riveting final quarter. Cork had seven goal chances and finished with three.
“It is really trying to get the balance between when to pop it and when to try and take it on and not take the point. While you are evolving you will fall between those two stools at times,” said Kieran Kingston.

A dejected Tony Kelly after the game. Photograph: Tommy Dickson/Inpho


But Clare had their chances too. Rob Downey, pressed into service at full back, had an excellent afternoon for Cork, making a huge block on Gary Cooney who found himself with a goal chance seconds after taking to the field in the 66th minute. In a way, the game was only getting started then.
This senior win is the grace note to a fine week for Cork hurling. There is a sense of the old empire consolidating and building. “The graph only seems to be going one way,” noted Brian Lohan. Every single result you look at they seem to be winning. Just doing a lot of things right and credit to them, they are a great county,” he said. But the Clare crowd stayed to applaud their crew off and they exit the stage in a good place.
CORK: 1 P Collins; 4 S O’Donoghue, 3 R Downey, 7 G Millerick; 5 T O’Mahony, 2 N O’Leary, 6 M Coleman; 8 D Fitzgibbons (0-2), 9 L Meade (0-1); 10 S Harnedy (0-1), 14 S Kingston (1-1), 12 R O’Flynn (0-1); 13 A Cadogan, 15 J O’Connor (1-0), 11 P Horgan (0-11, four frees, two 65s ).
Substitutes: 24 S Barrett (1-1) for 13 A Cadogan (half-time), 22 C Cahalane for 5 T O’Mahony (59 mins), 25 A Connolly (0-1) for 14 S Kingston (61 mins), 26 T Deasy for 10 S Harnedy (70 mins), 21 B Cooper for 8 D Fitzgibbon (71 mins).
CLARE: 1 E Quilligan; 2 R Hayes (0-1), 3 C Cleary, 4 P Flanagan; 5 D Ryan (0-1), 6 J Conlon, 18 D McInerney (0-1); 15 R Taylor (0-1), 9 C Malone (0-3); 8 I Galvin (0-1), 11 T Kelly (1-11, pen, five frees), 12 A McCarthy (0-2); 13 D Reidy, 14 I Galvin (0-1), 10 A Shanagher.
Substitutes: 19 M Rogers for 14 I Galvin (28 mins), 25 S Golden (0-1) for 19 M Rogers (55 mins), 17 J Browne for 8 C Galvin (57 mins), 24 G Cooney for 10 A Shanagher (66 mins),
Referee: J Keenan (Wicklow).