A good attendance of 12,660 saw an erratic Cork side beat a battling Dublin by 1-17 to 0-15 in the All-Ireland senior hurling qualifiers at Pairc Ui Chaoimh this afternoon. Cork will go away from this game knowing that they will have to improve as they hit 17 wides during the course of the match, while Dublin may be disappointed to lose, but they can take great heart from a determined performance. Dublin manager Tommy Naughton made two alterations to the side that lost the Leinster SHC semi-final replay to Wexford as team captain Stephen Hiney was switched from full back to right half back to the exclusion of Michael Carton, while Kevin Ryan was positioned on the edge of the square. Up front, Galway native Declan Qualter came in for John Kelly whose place at full forward was occupied by Kevin Flynn. Cork manager Gerald McCarthy rang the changes from the defeat to Tipperary in the Munster championship as no fewer than five players were replaced as the Rebels had a more familiar look about them particularly up front. Joe Deane was recalled along with Neil Ronan and Niall McCarthy up front, while Eoin Cadogan and Ciaran McCann were brought into the half back line as Ronan Curran and Sean Og O'hAilpin were ruled out through injury and John Gardiner moved into the centre. Despite the terrible weather that has plagued the country this summer, the game was played in ideal conditions and it was Cork that got off to the best start when they had two points on the board in the first two minutes. Deane showed why he was drafted back into the side when he scored a fine point from a tight angle and this was soon followed by a long range effort by the impressive Tom Kenny. There was eight minute on the clock when Dublin opened their account through a David O'Callaghan free and the St Mark's clubman was to have an excellent first half as he caused the Cork defence many problems. The sides were level soon after when O'Callaghan tapped over another close range free and although it took Dublin time to settle, they certainly were not overawed by the occasion. Ross O'Carroll was the first name in the referee's book and from the resultant free John Gardiner pointed to put the Rebels back in the lead and they stretched the lead even further when Kenny got his second of the afternoon, another fine score from distance. Arguably the score of the match came from debutant Cadogan, who took a pass from Kenny and sent over a delightful point to make it 0-5 to 0-2 and it looked as if the home side would pull away, but credit to the Dubs they kept battling away. Cork were certainly on top at midfield as Kenny and Jerry O'Connor were dominating and the latter put four between the sides before another close range free by O'Callaghan kept Dublin in touch. This was soon followed by their first score from play as Ross O'Carroll did well to make room and fire over a good score, 25 minutes into the match. This was a purple patch for the visitors and another converted O'Callaghan free left only one point between the sides. However, outstanding scores by Ben O'Connor and Neil McCarthy gave Cork a bit of breathing space, but once again O'Callaghan proved to be a menace for the Rebels and he knocked over a point, but from the Donal Og Cusack's puck out, Cathal Naughton gathered the sliothar and scored. Wexford referee James Owen, who seemed to give a number of easy free to both sides, booked Ronan Fallon for a late challenge on Naughton that resulted in a number of players from both sides squaring up to one another. With virtually the last puck of the sliothar in the first half, Ben O'Connor made it 0-10 to 0-6 from a free and although Dublin were trailing, they could be well pleased with their opening 35 minutes. The Dubs made a great start to the second half and O'Callaghan and O'Carroll fired over two points from play to leave just two points between the sides and the Cork management team must have been worried at this stage. Declan O'Dwyer was replaced by John Kenny, who went in at corner forward as the Dubs looked to build some momentum after their good start as Cork look very flat indeed. Nonetheless, you can never write Cork off and it was that man Deane that raised the first green flag of the match when he capitalised on a mistake by Dublin goalkeeper Gary Maguire and slotted home. It was a soft goal for Dublin to give away, especially as they had been playing so well. At the other end of the field, O'Carroll broke through the Cork defence and Cusack excellently saved his fierce shot to keep the Dubs at bay. The sides exchanged points to leave it 1-11 to 0-9 twelve minutes into the second half and even though Cork were not playing well, they were still managing to stay ahead. Substitute Kevin Hartnett replaced Cadogan, while Pa Cronin came on for Timmy McCarthy as the Rebel management looked to freshen things up as Dublin kept battling away as the game wore on. Cronin made an immediate impact by scoring a point, but Dublin hit back immediately and two unanswered points narrowed the gap once again and by no means was this match going to be a forgone conclusion. O'Carroll had another goal chance, but he opted to take his point instead to narrow the gap the gap to three points, but Cork showed their superiority when Jerry Connor scored straight away to make it 1-13 to 0-12 after 24 minutes of the second half. There were five between the sides when Naughton got space and knocked over a point. The battling qualities of Dublin were very impressive and O'Carroll won a free that was converted by O'Callaghan, which incidentally was his ninth of the match. Dublin needed a goal to close the gap, but they could not create any real chances on front of goal and they seemed to tire as the game wore on, which was not surprising given the effort that they displayed. A further point by Paul Ryan for Dublin set up a grandstand finish, but with only five minutes remaining time was running out for the Leinster side. The next score of the match would be crucial. And so it was as Naughton pointed his third of the match after good work by Deane. The officials signalled that there would be four minutes of added time and this gave Dublin a glimmer of hope, but they needed that elusive goal as Cork lead by four points. Neil Ronan sent over an insurance point and it looked as if it was all over. The Dubs never gave up throughout and O'Callaghan scored his tenth point, but with only one minute left, it was too little too late. Another Cork sub Pat Horgan made a good impression when introduced and he finished the scoring with a point to leave the final score 1-17 to 0-15. Cork - D Óg Cusack; S O'Neill, D O'Sullivan, B Murphy; E Cadogan 0-1, J Gardiner, C McGann; T Kenny 0-2, J O'Connor 0-2; B O'Connor 0-2, 1f, N McCarthy 0-1, T McCarthy; C Naughton 0-3, N Ronan. J Deane 1-1. Subs - P Cronin 0-1 for T McCarthy, K Hartnett for Cadogan, R Curran for McGann, P Horgan 0-1 for B O'Connor. Dublin - G Maguire; N Corcoran, K Ryan, T Brady; S Hiney, R Fallon, J Boland; J McCaffrey, S Lambert; J Burke, D O'Dwyer, D Qualter; D O'Callaghan 0-10, 7f, K Flynn, R O'Carroll 0-3. Subs - J Kelly for O'Dwyer, P O'Driscoll for Flynn, P Ryan 0-2 for Burke, P Bergin for K Ryan, P Kelly for McCaffrey. Ref - J Owens (Wexford). Tweet

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