Pat Horgan led the charge with 0-17 as Cork made a stunning comeback to defeat Dublin by 1-27 to 2-23 in an enthralling NHL Division One semi-final at Nowlan Park.

Trailing by nine points at the break, Cork looked dead and buried as Dublin were set to gain revenge for their earlier trouncing in the league.

Man of the Match Patrick Horgan hit an incredible 0-17 during the game and at one stage hit ten on the trot for Cork.

Dublin were far superior in the first half, as goals from the impressive Mark Schutte and the equally impressive David 'Dotsy' O'Callaghan laid the foundations for their commanding lead at the break, 2-15 to 0-12.

However, Cork kept plugging away in the second half as Horgan was unerring from placed balls, but the real turning came when substitute Paudie O'Sullivan goaled in the 65th minute.

This gave Cork the belief they needed as they tagged on an unanswered five points to record a great win.

The match was played on front of a packed Nowlan Park and the sun shun down on a perfectly addressed venue, which will earn rave reviews for hosting this double header.

Cork were first on the scoresheet as Conor Lehane popped over a beauty, but this was cancelled out within a minute as Mark Schutte raced through and shot low to the net.

Lehane then hit two wides on the trot before Conal Keaney broke forward and with ease drove the ball high into the square and Anthony Nash could only help the sliotar over the crossbar.

From early on, it was evident that Dublin's worth ethic and running was causing Cork all sorts of problems as the Rebels struggled at periods.

In the sixth minute, a long ball in was won by Dotsy O'Callaghan and he laid off to his left where an unmarked Liam Rushe duly gather and slotted over the bar.

Seamus Harnedy then came to the fore as he showed his class with a fine effort off his left near the sideline. From the puck out, Cork pushed forward and Bill Cooper was played through, but he went very wide before pulling on the sliotar and his shot was easily saved by Gary Maguire.

At the other end, Rushe gave a good pass to Johnny McCaffrey and from straight on front of the goals, he fired over a point off his left side.

Two unanswered points for Dublin by David Treacy (an outstanding effort) and a long range Paul Ryan free left it 1-05 to 0-02 and nine minutes.

Harnedy's second point of the game was followed by an answered 1-04 from Dublin as McCaffrey, Treacy, Ryan (free) and Schutte pointed before O'Callaghan raced through the heart of the Cork defence and fired low to the net, 2-09 to 0-03.

To their credit, Cork hit the next three points as an O'Farrell point was sandwiched between two Horgan frees. The Dubs responded with a pointed free from Ryan, before O'Farrell was on target again.

Dotsy and Alan Cadogan exchanged points, before Peter Kelly performed heroics in the full back line by clearing two goalbound chances for Cork.

The second of those ended in a '65 which Horgan converted. Keaney then made it 2-12 to 0-09 as Lehane responded at the other end. Ryan and O'Callaghan added points for Dublin, but Horgan (free) and Rushe closed out the scoring in the first half.

The second half turned into the Pat Horgan show. As the Dubs were tagging on points through Schutte and Ryan (two), the Cork forward was equally as busy at the other end as he was in excellent form from both frees and free.

Aidan Walsh fired over a long range point in between Horgan's glut of scores, but Dublin kept ticking over with a score from substitute Brian Lawton.

The crowd really started to believe when O'Sullivan's goal was fired in with five minutes to go, but there was still work to be done as they hit five points on the trot as Horgan (3) and Lehane had the sides' level before Harnedy sent over the winner.

Cork - A Nash; S O'Neill, D Cahalane, S McDonnell; L McLoughlin, A Walsh (0-1), W Kearney; D Kearney, R O'Shea; C Lehane (0-4), S Harnedy (0-3), B Cooper; A Cadogan (0-1), L O' Farrell (0-1), P Horgan (0-17, 11f, 3'65). Subs: P O'Sullivan (1-0) for A Cadogan, A Spillane for L O'Farrell, B Lawton for D Kearney.

Dublin - G Maguire; C O'Callaghan, P Kelly, P Schutte; S Durkin, C Crummey, C Keaney (0-2); J McCaffrey (0-2), N McMorrow; R O'Dwyer, L Rushe (0-3), P Ryan (0-7, 3f); D O'Callaghan (1-3), M Schutte (1-3), D Treacy (0-2). Subs: B Quinn (0-1) for J McCaffrey, C Cronin for R O'Dwyer, O O'Rorke for D Treacy.

Referee - J Owens.

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