All-Ireland SHC quarter-final: terrific Tribe rout ragged Rebels

July 26, 2015

Galway's Jonathan Glynn gathers the ball from his tap over before scoring the first goal of the All-Ireland SHC quarter-final against Cork.
©INPHO/Morgan Treacy.

Galway eased to a facile 2-28 to 0-22 victory over a clueless Cork side in front of 33,150 bewildered spectators at Thurles.

As well as winning by twelve points, the beaten Leinster finalists, who will now face Tipperary for a place in the All-Ireland final, also registered a staggering 23 wides as the Leesiders failed to muster any sort of challenge.

Jimmy Barry-Murphy's listless side finished the game with 14 men after midfielder Damien Cahalane picked up a second yellow card midway through the first half. In reality, for long periods it looked like they had ten men.

Galway had eleven different scorers, with their goals coming from Jonathan Glynn (1-2) and Conor Whelan (1-2) at the start and end of the game.

Thanks to a Glynn wondergoal and five points from Cathal Mannion - and with eight different scorers before the break, aided by atrocious Cork defending - Anthony Cunningham's men led by four points at the interval, 1-15 to 0-14. The second half was a massacre.

The Tribesmen got off to a dream start when the unchallenged Glynn danced gratefully in second gear through to score a wonderful solo goal inside the first minute, lobbing the ball over Mark Ellis and then planting it in the net from close range. Why did nobody engage him?

Jason Flynn added two Galway points either side of scores from Cork pair Patrick Horgan (free) and Conor Lehane before Seamus Harnedy and midfielder Daniel Kearney reduced the gap to one again, 1-2 to 0-5 after six minutes. That was as good as it got for the losers.

Joe Canning (free) and Mannion (2) registered quickfire scores for the Tribesmen and Horgan replied on ten minutes as the goal continued to separate the teams, 1-5 to 0-5. After Horgan pulled back a pointed free, Galway replied with scores from captain Andy Smith, teenager Conor Whelan and the busy David Burke.

Lehane and Kearney both registered their second points and Horgan (frees) claimed his fourth and fifth points either side of a Glynn reply. Mannion pointed on 23 minutes as the goal continued to separate the teams: 1-10 to 0-10.

Wing back Cormac Murphy and Brian Lawton pointed to bring the gap back to one but Galway replied with four rapid scores from Canning, Mannion (2) and Burke to lead by five after half an hour, 1-14 to 0-12.

Horgan (free) and Cyril Donnellan swapped points and it was left to Harnedy to knock over the last score of the first half as the Tribe led by four at the interval.

Wing back Harte and half-time substitute Joseph Cooney became the ninth and tenth Galwaymen to register and Donnellan pointed from a tight angle as the gap grew to six within five minutes of the restart, Harnedy having notched the first score of the second half: 1-18 to 0-15.

Horgan (free) got his seventh but Canning spooned over a sideline cut to restore the beaten Leinster finalists' six-point cushion. After Horgan converted yet another free, Cork's slender hopes went up in smoke as Cahalane was dismissed for a foul on Cooney; Canning slotted the free to make it 1-20 to 0-17 with a quarter of the match remaining.

The 14 men rallied briefly with points from Lehane and substitute Paudie O'Sullivan but it was a dead cat bounce: back came the winners with scores from Mannion and Glynn before substitute Alan Cadogan left five in it with an hour played. But Flynn hit a stunning point in the 62nd minute to give the Tribe plenty of breathing space.

Canning converted a '65 on 64 minutes following an Anthony Nash double save and last year's minor, Whelan, drilled home the winners' second major in the 66th minute. There was no way back for Cork, who were completely outclassed today from start to finish.

Galway - C Callanan; J Coen, J Hanbury, P Mannion; A Harte (0-2), I Tannian, Daithi Burke; A Smith (0-1), David Burke (0-2); C Whelan (1-2), C Donnellan (0-2), J Glynn (1-2); J Flynn (0-3), J Canning (0-5, 2f, 1sl, 1'65), C Mannion (0-7). Subs: J Cooney (0-1) for David Burke, D Collins for C Donnellan, G Lally for I Tannian, F Moore for A Smith, N Healy (0-1) for J Glynn.

Cork - A Nash; S O'Neill, B Murphy, S McDonnell; D Cahalane, M Ellis, C Murphy (0-1); A Walsh (0-1), D Kearney (0-2); B Lawton (0-1), P Cronin, B Cooper; C Lehane (0-3), S Harnedy (0-3), P Horgan (0-9, 8f). Subs: J Coughlan for P Cronin, L McLoughlin for C Murphy, A Cadogan (0-1) for B Lawton, P O'Sullivan (0-1) for B Cooper.

Referee - J Owens.


Most Read Stories