John Gardiner was on fire, inspiring Cork to a thrilling 0-18 to 1-13 defeat of Kilkenny at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

The Rebel wing back struck over six sumptuous points as Cork downed the 14-man All-Ireland champions in a match often played at championship intensity.

The sides were level on 0-8 apiece at the end of an eventful, hard-fought first half.

Kilkenny were awarded a soft penalty in the third minute when Richie Power was adjudged to have been fouled but the No.13's shot was well saved by Donal Og Cusack.

The Rebels took full advantage of the let-off and sent over three quickfire points from Gardiner (65), Tom Kenny and Patrick Horgan to lead by 0-3 to no score after seven minutes.

Horgan stretched their lead with a lovely strike down the middle a minute later and John Mulhall opened the Cats' account in the ninth minute. Power tagged on another Black & Amber point to make it 0-2 to 0-4.

Horgan floated over a free to stretch the Cork lead but Kilkenny responded with a Power free in the 19th minute. There was plenty of niggle in the game and both sets of players were getting close to each other.

In the 21st minute, both sides came close to grabbing goals but the respective custodians stood firm at either end to divert the danger. Gardiner clipped over a long-range free to put the home team three ahead.

Power pulled back another free for the All-Ireland champions after a high challenge from Gardiner and Aidan Fogarty had Brian Cody's men within a point on 28 minutes, 0-6 to 0-5.

Michael Grace made it a draw game, 0-6 each, in the 33rd minute. A harmless-looking foul on Brian O'Connor resulted in a straightforward free for Horgan, which popped the Rebels back in front on the stroke of half time. But Mulhall struck in injury time to leave the sides level again.

The half wasn't over yet and Niall McCarthy had the next say with a lovely score to put the Cork men into a 0-8 to 0-7 lead.

A scrap broke out in the third minute of added time with fists and hurls flying. At the end of it all, Grace got a red card and the Cats managed to draw level before the short whistle sounded.

Points were swapped before Gardiner drilled over a brilliant long-range point to make it 0-10 to 0-9. The next two scores were also traded as the hosts retained a narrow lead but Power picked out Mulhall in the 49th minute and the No.10 fired a low shot to the net to give the 14 men a 1-10 to 0-11 advantage.

Another Gardiner free from far out reduced the gap to one and substitute Eddie Brennan fired his shot wide at the other end.

This one was going right down to the wire…

Cork got two of the next three points, including a wonderful score from Cathal Naughton to leave it level, and they then had late points from frees from Man of the Match Gardiner and Niall McCarthy to lead by 0-16 to 1-11.

Power was keeping the Cats in it and he banged over a free in the 69th minute to reduce the gap to just a point.

Sub Paudi O'Sullivan - donning No.23 - clipped over the insurance point in the first of two added minutes. Power again replied with a free 30 seconds from the end of added time. The referee added on a bit of additional, additional time and O'Sullivan closed the scoring with a magnificent point deep into added time. Tweet

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