Cork put recent disappointments behind them to capture the 2007 Cadbury's U21 football championship with a series of resolute displays. Inspired throughout their glory run by the uncanny accuracy of Daniel Goulding, the Rebels effortlessly won a fourth successive provincial title before edging out both Armagh and Laois by a single point to bridge the 13-year gap to their last outright success at this level. The 2007 Cadbury's All-Ireland U21 football champions took their first steps down the road to glory when defeating Limerick by 0-17 to 0-9 in the first round of the Munster championship at Pairc Ui Rinn in early March. Keen to atone for their 2006 All-Ireland final defeat to Mayo, the Leesiders tore into their opponents, with full forward Daniel Goulding in particularly ruthless form. The senior intercounty star helped himself to ten points over the hour and his scores were instrumental in setting Cork up with an unassailable 0-9 to 0-1 interval cushion. Meanwhile, the Rebel County could have been forgiven for rubbing their hands with glee when they heard that arch rivals Kerry had succumbed to a shock 1-6 to 0-6 first-round defeat to Kerry at Kilmihil. Suddenly, the path to a fourth consecutive Munster championship looked a little less congested… On St Patrick's Day, Cork eased into yet another provincial final when they thumped Waterford by 2-17 to 0-1 at Dungarvan. The game was effectively over as a contest by the 20th minute when Eoin Cadogan set up Colm O'Neill for a goal to put the visitors ahead by 1-5 to no score. Fintan Goold and Daniel Goulding kicked seven first-half points between them as the winners-elect moved 1-9 to 0-0 ahead by the short whistle. The second half followed a similar pattern with scoring sensation Goulding knocking in a second goal to add to Waterford's humiliation. In the other Munster semi-final on the same day, Tipperary brought surprise packets Clare crashing back to earth with a resounding 5-8 to 0-7 success. This set up a first Cork/Tipperary provincial final in 21 years, which was played at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick on Saturday April 7. And Cork were crowned Munster under 21 football champions for a fourth successive year following their victory in a ridiculously high-scoring final: 3-19 to 3-12. Daniel Goulding continued his impressive scoring form for the Rebels with a personal haul of 1-6, bringing his return from Cork's three-game Munster championship campaign to 2-22. The Eire Og full forward was the difference between the teams as Tipp demonstrated plenty of skill and resolve, refusing to roll over and bow at the altar of tradition. Tony Leahy's charges had made an explosive start to lead by 1-3 to 0-0 after 10 minutes. Fintan Goold grabbed the opening goal and a second from the penalty spot by senior player Goulding made it 2-4 to 0-2 after 15 minutes. Full forward Barry Grogan pulled back a goal for Tipperary, but Cork still led by 2-10 to 1-7 at the break. Brogan's second goal shortly after the restart briefly cut the deficit to two points but the holders never fell behind. Boasting 13 of the side that lost last year's All-Ireland final to Mayo, Cork stretched their lead to eight points when wing forward Fiachra Lynch blasted their third goal. When Grogan completed his hat-trick of goals, it gave the winners an anxious enough finish The winning manager accepted afterwards that the Rebels would have to step it up if they were to go all the way: "While it is nice to win and chalk up such a big score, I'm hugely concerned at what we conceded. We'll get punished in the All-Ireland semi-final if our defence plays like that again. We are great going forward but we'll have to get the tackles in out around midfield and stop teams building from the back. We failed in that area and on another day that could prove extremely costly." Armagh had beaten Monaghan in the Ulster decider and Cork met the Orchard County in an All-Ireland semi-final at Portlaoise on Saturday April 21. The Rebels emerged with just a point to spare at the end of a fascinating and hard-fought contest: 0-13 to 0-12. The Munster champs looked to be coasting to victory early in the second half, but Armagh suddenly came to life by scoring six unanswered points to leave the Rebel County hanging on for the win. Favoured by the wind in the first half, Cork raced into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after 15 minutes thanks to points from Fiachra Lynch and Daniel Goulding. Armagh replied with scores from Kevin O'Rourke, Johnny Hanratty and Stefan Forker, but further Cork minors from Goulding, Fintan Goold and Colm O'Neill saw them lead by 0-11 to 0-5 at the break. When Goold added Cork's 12th point immediately after the restart, it looked as though they would canter to the winning line, but Armagh hit a real purple patch to reduce the deficit to two points. Stefan Forker made it a one-point game before Goulding got Cork's second and last point of the half two minutes from time. Forker again cut the deficit to the minimum, but time ran out on the Ulster champions as Cork held on to secure a final berth. The second-half fade-out was a source of real concern, however, and Tony Leahy and his backroom team knew there was work to be done ahead of the national decider. The chance for revenge against Mayo never materialised as the Connacht champions were well beaten by Laois in their semi-final (0-11 to 0-6). Thus the 2007 Cadbury's All-Ireland U21 FC final was between Cork and Laois. It was a match-up that contained plenty of spice as the same group of players had been involved in a mass brawl when they collided at minor grade three years earlier. Thus, the backdrop to the clash at Semple Stadium on Saturday May 5 was intriguing, to say the least. As it transpired, the Rebels lived up to the national hype surrounding the game as they dramatically carved out a narrow 2-10 to 0-15 success to reclaim the national crown at U21 level. With four county seniors on board - Daniel Goulding, Fintan Goold, Michael Shields and Eoin Cadogan - Cork produced a gritty display, finding goals at opportune moments and perhaps riding their luck a little to land their first All-Ireland U21 football championship in 13 years. Going into the game, the pressure was on Cork as 13 of their players would be ineligible to play at his grade in 2008. The manager drafted Bantry Blues clubman Kevin Harrington and Seanie Cahalane of Castlehaven into his starting side for the final, while captain Andrew O'Sullivan accepted that "this is the most important game of the year and what we've trained for all year". In keeping with one of the most blatant sub-plots of the competition, it was a late point from Daniel Goulding that gave Cork victory over the O'Moore County in the decider. The sides were level on eight occasions in a riveting encounter before Goulding's injury-time winner decided the issue. The first ten points of the match were shared to leave the sides locked on 0-5 apiece after 25 minutes. Colm O'Neill, Daniel Goulding (three) and Fiachra Lynch got those early Rebel scores. When the midlanders rallied with three consecutive points, the player of the competition Goulding popped up with the major that left the counties level at the short whistle: 1-5 to 0-8. After Laois crept back in front, Goulding gave the southerners the lead with points from a 45 and a free. But the losers sprinted into a commanding 0-15 to 1-9 advantage and it looked as if Cork were going to fall at the final hurdle for a second successive season. However, O'Neill dramatically tied the scores up with Cork's second goal and Goulding clipped over the decisive score from a free in injury time to spark the celebrations. Cork - K O'Halloran; R Carey, M Shields, K Harrington; S O'Donoghue (0-1), D Limerick, E Cadogan; F Goold, A O'Sullivan; F Lynch (0-1), C Keane, P Kerrigan (0-1); C O'Neill (1-1), D Goulding (1-6), S Cahalane. Subs: R Leahy for Cahalane; S McCarthy for Lynch; G O'Shea for Keane. Tweet

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