Cork 1-25
Dublin 0-22

Cork ousted Dublin from the All-Ireland senior hurling championship this evening with a vastly improved display from the one which saw them crash out of the Munster SHC against Waterford seven days ago.

Declan Dalton’s goal eight minutes in and a combined tally of 0-10 (from play) by attackers Seamus Harnedy and Robbie O’Flynn helped the Rebels stay comfortable throughout in this Semple Stadium encounter.

Dalton’s strike surged the victors towards a six-point lead at the half and they’d bump their advantage up nine as they threatened to race through the gears throughout the second-half.

Having comeback from 15 points down before losing to one to Kilkenny last weekend, Dublin were simply outclassed on this occasion and it’s now back to the drawing board for 2021 for Mattie Kenny and his players.

Luke Meade had Cork up and running with a superb point inside the opening minute and it was met by back-to-back points from Danny Sutcliffe at the other end.

Shane Kingston levelled and Harnedy nudged the Rebels back in front ahead of Chris Crummey earing a free for Donal Burke to convert.

O’Flynn made it 0-4 to 0-3 in the sixth minute and two minutes later the sliotar would be in the Dubs net after Dalton broke through and rifled home for three points.

Kingston and Harnedy sailed over points to open up a five-point gap prior to scores from Burke (free) and Cian Boland flying over for the capital men before the water break.

Two Patrick Horgan frees restored the margin for the Leesiders, but through Burke’s accuracy Dublin clawed it back again to Dalton’s goal come the half-hour mark.

Kieran Kingston’s men finished out the half strong however, with Shane Kingston and Horgan converting their possession to leave it at 1-13 to 0-10 for the break.

Harnedy made it a seven-point game for the first time after three minutes of the resumption prior to scores from Boland, Crummey and Burke (free) serving to eat into the Munster side’s lead.

A brace from O’Flynn raised Cork’s tally to 1-17 come the 45th minute and the Dubs would be left with a mountain to try and scale after Horgan and Harnedy added to their own personal tallies.

Burke’s free left it at 1-19 to 0-15 by the second water break, with Conor Lehane entering the fray for Dalton afterwards.

Cork's Luke Meade celebrates with Aidan Walsh. ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo.

Horgan struck a couple more frees to try and put the issue beyond doubt for the Rebels and he’d add a point from play to erase Burke’s free for good measure.

Kenny’s men continued to play catch-up and would need something similar to what they produced against the Cats a week ago to be in with a shout.

Conor Burke and Sutcliffe supplied the points that brought the margin down to eight entering the closing 10 minutes and they’d have a sniff at goal via Sean Moran’s free superbly stopped on the line by Cork ‘keeper Anthony Nash.

Conal Keaney was introduced by Kenny for the closing stages, with Burke and Horgan trading frees shortly afterwards to bring the tie into injury-time.

Burke (free) and skipper Crummey nailed the last two scores to take some tarnish off the result which sees Cork stroll into Round 2 of the backdoor with a couple more big hitters lying in the wait in next Monday’s draw.

Cork - A Nash; C Spillane, S O’Donoghue, M Coleman; D Cahalane, R Downey, T O’Mahony; B Cooper, L Meade (0-1); R O’Flynn (0-5), P Horgan (0-8, 5f, 1'65), S Harnedy (0-5); J O’Connor (0-1), S Kingston (0-4), D Dalton (1-1). Subs: S McDonnell for S O’Donoghue, C Lehane for D Dalton, A Walsh for S Harnedy, N O’Leary for R Downey, S Barrett for J O’Connor.

Dublin - A Nolan; C O’Callaghan, J Madden, P Smyth; C Burke (0-1), E O'Donnell, J Malone; D Gray, R McBride; D Sutcliffe (0-3), C Crummey (0-3), C Boland (0-2); E Dillon, R Hayes (0-1), D Burke (0-11, 9f). Subs: D Keogh (0-1) for E Dillon, S Moran for J Malone, L Rushe for R Hayes, M Schutte for C Boland, C Keaney for R McBride.

Referee - J Keenan.

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