Cork 3-11
Armagh 0-19

A last-gasp goal from Stephen O'Mahony saw Cork progress through to the last four of the ESB All-Ireland Minor Football Championship at the expense of Armagh yesterday at Croke Park.

Having trailed throughout much of this encounter, goals made all the difference for the Rebels, as they downed the All-Ireland champions in the last quarter with the minimum to spare and will now go on to face beaten Connacht finalists Galway in the semi-finals.

Armagh raced out of the traps in this game to open up a five-point lead after 18 minutes, with Ryan Conlon and Ryan Rafferty doing the damage up front.

Cork hit back via a John O'Rourke goal, but it was Paul McShane's charges that were firmly in the driving-seat come the half-time whistle as Aidan Forker's points gave them a 0-12 to 1-5 advantage for the second-half.

Brian Hurley swapped scores with Barry Seeley and Forker as Armagh stood in command until a quick 1-1 from substitute Dan Mac Eoin leveled matters. It stayed that way before O'Mahony stormed the Leesiders back into the lead with five minutes to go.

However, another Forker free squared the sides again and when Niall McConville registered his second Armagh were back in front.

Substitute Colin Stevenson stretched the lead to two points, but there was still time for more drama as O'Rourke pierced the Orchard defence and set-up O'Mahony, who found the net.

Cork - D Hanrahan; K Fulignati, D Cahalane (0-1) , D Murphy; D Lester (0-1) , T Clancy, J Wall; J Burns, J O'Rourke (1-1); K Sheehan (0-1 free), D Fitzgerald (0-1) , A Cronin; K Hallissey (0-1) , T Hegarty, B Hurley (0-3, one from a free). Subs: M O'Shea for Wall (half-time), D McEoin (1-1) for Sheehan (half-time), S O'Mahony (1-1) for Hegarty (47 mins), D O'Donovan for Fulignati (50 mins), M Sugrue for Fitzgerald (59 mins).

Armagh - M McNiece; R McCaughley, C Hoey, R Finnegan; D Hugent, J King (0-1), N McConville (0-2); P Carragher (0-1), captain, C Gough (0-1); M McKenna (0-1), A Forker (0-6, three from frees), B Seeley (0-2, one from a free); R Conlon (0-2) , P McKeown, R Rafferty (0-2). Subs: D Mullen for McCaughley (56 mins), C Stevenson (0-1) for Conlon (57 mins), C Trainor for Seeley (58 mins).

Ref: J Curley (Meath) Tweet

Most Read Stories