Cork 1-20
Clare 1-11

Daniel Goulding was on target with 1-5 as Cork strolled to a convincing nine-point victory over Clare in the Munster SFC semi-final at Cusack Park, Ennis today.

Mick O'Dwyer was unable to conjure up an upset on his championship managerial debut with the Banner County as his side trailed from start to finish in what was a repeat of last year's provincial decider.

Goulding's goal arrived in the first half and the Rebel County held a commanding 1-11 to 0-7 advantage at the change of ends.

The signs were ominous for O'Dwyer and his charges when they fell 0-0 to 0-7 behind after just 18 minutes.

Clare got off the mark through Shane McGrath before David Tubridy doubled their account but that proved to be just a temporary stay of execution.

Normal service was soon restored and Goulding's 29th minute goal left them facing an uphill battle.

Brian Hurley was also in good scoring form for Conor Counihan's side and he finished with five points to his name, two of which came from placed balls.

Paul Kerrigan extended Cork's lead at the start of the second half but Clare were given a glimmer of hope when Gary Brennan found the back of the Cork net three minutes after the resumption.

It proved to be a false dawn for Clare, however, and Goulding hit three unanswered points to give the holders a 1-15 to 1-7 lead by the 49th minute.

The team in red and white outscored the hosts by five points to four in the time that remained to set up a final showdown against arch-rivals Kerry.

Cork - K O'Halloran; E Cadogan, M Shields, D Cahalane; J Loughrey, P Kissane, Tomas Clancy; P O'Neill, G Canty; J O'Rourke (0-2), P Kelly, F Goold (0-4); D Goulding (1-5, 3f), B Hurley (0-5, 2f), P Kerrigan (0-2). Subs: A Walsh for O'Neill, C Sheehan (0-1) for Kerrigan, D O'Connor (0-1) for O'Rourke, A O'Connor for Kelly, Thomas Clancy for Kissane.

Clare - J Hayes; M McMahon, L Healy, Gordon Kelly; D Callinan, J Hayes (0-1), Graham Kelly; G Brennan (1-0), C O'Connor; R Donnelly (0-2), G Quinlan, S McGrath (0-1); A Clohessy, I McInerney (0-1f), D Tubridy (0-4, 2f). Subs: C Dunning (0-1) for Clohessy, F Hayes for C O'Connor, J Kean (0-1) for Quinlan, S Ryan for McGrath, P McMahon for Graham Kelly.

Referee - D Fahy. Tweet

Most Read Stories