Cork U20s make hard work of Galway win
06 March, 2022
Mike Rafferty of the Irish Examiner 5th March 2022
John Kerins U20 Cup
Cork 1-12 Galway 0-13
Cork were forced to come with a late scoring burst to defeat Galway in a game of two halves in Saturday's John Kerins U20 Cup tie in Tuam. The Rebels were hugely impressive for the first 30 minutes but almost saw their hard work undone by a lacklustre display on the restart.
Well beaten by Kerry in their first outing, Bobbie O'Dwyer's charges made the perfect start when Hugh O'Connor punched a dropping ball to the net, before a point by the impressive Ryan O'Donovan stretched their advantage.
Galway were overly dependent on the freetaking of Nathan Grainger and the Claregalway youngster slotted over five placed balls to keep the home side in touch.
At the other end, Cork were finding scores easier to come by as O'Connor added two points to his earlier goal, while Colin Walsh (0-3), Eoin Walsh (0-2) and Ryan O'Donovan were all on target as they led by 1-9 to 0-7 at the break.
Galway certainly upped their game on the resumption with Grainger getting their opening three points to close the gap to two. O'Connor got Cork's first score of the half on 44 minutes, before Evan Nolan, Rory Donnellon and Daniel Cox all pointed for the home side to tie the game at 0-13 to 1-10 after 53 minutes.
As both sides rung the changes, Galway couldn't build on their momentum and were not to score again. Now despite just scoring three times in the second half, additional time points by substitutes Conor Hanlon and Hugh Murphy were enough to see Cork secure the win in dramatic fashion.
CORK: C. Dungan; J. O'Driscoll, N. Lordan, D. Peet; D. Cashman, T. Walsh, A. Walsh-Murphy; K. Scannell, A. Walsh; R. O'Sullivan, H. O'Connor (1-2), D. O'Mahony; R. O'Donovan (0-3, 0-1free), C. Walsh (0-3, 0-2marks), E. Walsh (0-2).
Subs: H. Murphy (0-1) for O'Sullivan (31mins), M. O'Neill for E. Walsh (31mins), C. Hanlon (0-1) for O'Donovan (47mins), T. O'Donoghue for O'Driscoll (47mins).
GALWAY: J. Egan; C. Cororan, E. Donohue, C. Mac Donncha; D. Flaherty (0-1). R. King, C. Greaney; R. Donnellon (0-1), C. Gallagher; E. Nolan (0-1), W. Seoighe, D. Brady (0-1); C. Power, J. Slattery, N.Grainger (0-8, 0-7 frees).
Subs: D. Cox (0-1) for Slattery 38mins, C. Meagher for Corcoran inj-48mins, L. Ó Conghaile for Nolan 49mins, B. Carr for Seoige 49mins, C. Ó Curraoin for Brady 55mins.
Referee: Garryowen McMahon (Mayo).