Cork 3-9; Donegal 0-16
Cork proved the old adage that goals win matches in no uncertain terms in Ballintemple on Saturday when they surprised Donegal, and probably themselves, by running out two-point winners.
The reason for the win was the fact that they managed to score three goals while keeping the Ulster champions’ green-flag waving idle on the day. In particular two early second-half strikes within a minute by Sean Powter and Rory Maguire turned the game in the 37 and 38 minus from a two point deficit to a four point lead - and also knocked Jim McGuinness’s men totally off their stride for much of the ensuing moiety.
It is to their credit that they managed to make a fight of it again before the finish but they just had that little bit too much to do to catch up.
"We didn’t do enough to win the game," he said, candidly. "We made a good comeback in the second half, but the reality is you can’t go away from home, against a team like Cork, and give away three goals. We got punished heavily, particularly in the transition moments.”
Cork now have won two from two and manager John Cleary was happy with how they shocked Donegal on the day.
"We’re delighted with the win, playing in front of our own supporters against a top, top team in Donegal. We left two more behind us in the first half,” he said. “The way Donegal played, we felt we would get chances to break, and we have great pace around the middle and strong runners. It’s something we have been working on. In the league and probably last year, we missed an awful lot of goal chances, and it cost us in the big matches."
Cleary added: “We never really had any control over the game. There was a period when we really turned the screw, in the third quarter, and we will draw heart from that."
Matty Taylor got in for a first half goal and his strikes was later added to by Powter and Maguire’s when they used the high press to dispossess their opponents and then made rapid transitions down the field which had the visiting defense at sixes and sevens as they tried to cover the goal threats.
Explained McGuinness: "All of the goals came in the transition, and that was flagged in the video analysis, I can assure you. They are very good in the transition, very good on their own kick-out. They probably go 50/50 on their own kick-out more than any other team in the country. They are very good at it and on the breaking ball.
”There were probably more unforced errors today than we have had over the course of all the championship games up to this point," he admitted.
Cork: C Flynn; K Flahive, D O’Mahony, M Shanley; R Maguire (1-0), T Walsh, M Taylor (1-0); I Maguire, C O’Callaghan (0-2); P Walsh (0-1), S Powter (1-0), B O’Driscoll; C Jones (0-2), M Cronin, B Hurley (0-3, 0-2f) Subs: C Corbett for Powter [45], S Sherlock (0-1) for Jones [47], T Clancy for T Walsh [55], R Deane for Cronin [65], E McSweeney for B Hurley [68], S Meehan for S Walsh [70+3]
Donegal: S Patton; E Bán Gallagher, B McCole, C Moore (0-2); R McHugh (0-1), C McGonagle (0-1), P Mogan; J McGee, M Langan; S O’Donnell, C Thompson, D O’Baoill; P McBrearty (0-7, 0-3f), O Gallen (0-3, 0-2f) N O’Donnell (0-1) Subs: A Doherty for O’Baoill [36], O Doherty (0-1) for McGee [39], J Brennan for N O’Donnell [53], J MacCeallabhui for S O’Donnell [63]
Ref: B Griffin (Kerry).
Mayo 2-14; Roscommon 1-15
Mayo just about limped home but Rossies boss Davy Burke was none too happy with referee’s decisions, including a penalty, which could have been the difference between victory and defeat for the home side atDr Hyde Park on Saturday evening.
Scoring talisman Ryan O'Donoghue’s penalty conversion and another from Donnacha McHugh appeared to give Mayo the upper hand before a late rally by the Rossies which included a late Conor Cox’s penalty meant no one left the ground before the final whistle.
Ill luck for Burke after the match as his playmaker Enda Smith had to go off and will be in a race against time to be fit to face Cavan in a do-or-die game the weekend after next.
The game opened with both sides playing cagily and the shared the lead no less than seven times in the first half, the big talk point of that period being a glaring miss by Darren McHale when a goal seemed earlier to record.
Deadlocked at 0-8 a piece at the break, Mayo with the wind in their backs pushed a few clear entering the last quarter when ref Barry Cassidy awarded a penalty for O’Donoghue when he appeared to have taken at least twice too many steps in the move.
His spot-kick conversion made it 1-12 to 0-11 and then after the Rossies landed a brace of points, Donnacha McHugh shot home to leave Mayo six to the good on 2-13 ro 0-13.
Surely no way back for Mayo? Roscommon rallied and when sub Dylan Ruane was tripped, Cox showed great composure to slot home.
Fergal Boland then got a a straight red card for Mayo but time was the Rossies’ enemy and the visitors ran down the clock to escape with two points in the bag from this trip.
Ref: B Cassidy (Derry).
Dublin 5-17; Cavan 0-13
Less than 10,000 fans turned up at Breffni Park on a glorious bank holiday Saturday and who could blame them as both sets of supporters knew only too well what the outcome would be before the ball was thrown in.
And the fact that Cavan with a depleted squad were welcoming the All Ireland champions meant the only matter of debate was the margin of victory - a 19-point drubbing for the hosts as it turned out.
Dublin too were missing the likes of last year’s skipper James McCarthy and Lee Gannon but their back-up is such that you would expect their second XV to beat most counties aside from the elite half dozen.
In fairness to Cavan, they came out with a clear intention to give it their hall and had the game level on four occasions in the first 20 minutes thanks to good scores from the lively Oisin Brady. However missing the likes of Paddy Lynch and the experienced Jason McLoughlin, Dara McVeety and Killian Clarke, all the homsters were doing was postponing the inevitable which came once their opponents upped a gear and Cormac Costello finished off a breath-taking move to the back of the net after 24mins.
Brian Fenton almost added another straight away but his thundering strike rebounded off the crossbar. However once Paddy Small flicked home a Costello pass across the goalmouth to leave his side 2-9 to 0-7 ahead, it was a case of goodnight Cavan as the Dublin bandwagon rolled on.
Gerry Smith and Brady showed defiance in helping the home side kicked three unanswered points in the second half to negate Fenton’s three first-half points from play.
His midfield partner for the day Killian McGinnis won possession at the start of the second half and scored a great solo goal with the evergreen Niall Scully and Costello quickly adding points.
Further salt was rubbed into the home wounds when wing-back Sean Bugler showed opportunistic tendencies to raise the fourth green flag of the afternoon with Cian Madden and Brady offering only token replies with white flags.
Last year’s All-Star Colm Basquel came on to hit three fine points before Costello expertly struck home a penalty in the last minute to round off the scoring on a very one-sided encounter/.
Tyrone 3-15; Clare 0-10
Tyrone can thank corner-back Niall Devlin for settling their nerves and pointing them on their way to a fist win in this All-Ireland series against Clare at Healy Park on Sunday
They led by 2-3 to 0-5 at the break and after a quiet opening, Darragh Canavan woke up and sealed the victory with the Red Hand’s third goal.
Emmet McMahon scored five points to try to keep the Banner in the game but once they were reduced to 14 men following a late straight red card for midfielder Darragh Bohannon, the gig was up.
Kerry 2-18; Meath 0-9
After suffering a 10-point defeat to neighbors Louth the previous week, Meath came with a defensive game plan which worked for the first half but once Kerry got the substantial wind in their favor, the game became a procession at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday.
Talisman David Clifford eventually opened up to shoot two second half goals for the Kingdom who are now almost guaranteed automatic quarter-final qualification.
Galway 1-12; Westmeath 0-11
It took a late goal against the run of play from former All-Star Shane Walsh for Galway to finally break stubborn Westmeath resistance at Cusack Park onSunday.
The key score came three minutes from the end of normal time and means that if Galway win their final match in two weeks time against Armagh, they will top their section and go automatically into the All Ireland quarter-final stages.
Westmeath are still there and if they can overcome downbeat Derry in their final game, they will be offered a route back into contention, but they will have to travel for that qualifying match.
GAA Results
All Ireland U-20 Hurling Final
Offaly 2-20; Tipperary 2-14
All Ireland SF Championship 2024
Group 1, Round 2
Armagh 3-17; Derry 0-15
Galway 1-12; Westmeath 0-11
Group 2, Round 2
Dublin 5-17; Cavan 0-13
Mayo 2-14; Roscommon 1-15
Group 3, Round 2
Cork 3-9; Donegal 0-16
Tyrone 3-15; Clare 0-10
Group 4, Round 2
Kerry 2-18; Meath 0-9
Monaghan 2-10; Louth 2-10
Tailteann Cup Draw
Tailteann Cup preliminary quarter-finals
Leitrim v Wicklow
Laois v New York
Limerick v Tipperary
Antrim v London
Tailteann Cup Quarter-Finals
Kildare v preliminary quarter-final winner
Sligo v preliminary quarter-final winner
Fermanagh v preliminary quarter-final winner
Down v preliminary quarter-final winner
Tailteann Cup Results from weekend
Limerick 2-14; London 0-10
Waterford 4-12; Longford 1-16
Tipperary 3-5; Wexford 0-12
Fermanagh 3-11; Laois 2-13
Wicklow 0-15; Carlow 1-9
Kildare 1-16; Leitrim 0-12
Down 2-22; Offaly 3-13
Sligo 0-20; Antrim 0-20
