Cork 3-12; Kilkenny 1-15
The best day ever Cork were, they found the black and amber of Kilkenny a tough nut to crack.
Even with both teams experimenting from what will be their championship line-ups, there was no quarter given in this game as the Cats clawed every step of the way against the high-flying Rebels at Nowlan Park on Sunday.
Ultimately it took a goal from Alan Walsh, who had just come on, to deliver the killer blow as the Munster men maintained their impressive unbeaten record in the league.
That gave them a five-point lead but typical Kilkenny, they fought back with points from Darragh Corcoran and free taker Cian Kenny to leave a goal in it - a chasm they couldn’t cross in those dying embers of the game.
In some way the Kilkenny side and boss Derek Lyng will take a lot of hope out of this game while Cork new boss Ben O’Connor will be worried at the squandermania within his camp. They were the better side, they had chances a plenty but they spurned a lot of those, until substitute showed assassin-like tendencies by using his one possession to get the all important score.
Kilkenny made use of their chances, none more so than the reliable Eoin Cody who scored a goal when Cork looked like stretching away in the second half to reduce the lead to the minimum 2-11 to 1-13. That sort of never say die attitude will be invaluable to Lyng and Co when the big games come around a few months down the road.
O'Connor made nine changes for his starting line-up, gave a first start to Hugh O'Connor and competitive debuts to goalkeeper Paudie O'Sullivan and Barry Walsh and were always that bit better around the field.
It looked as if it might be an easy day when big Brian Hayes goaled in the third minute, as they went on to build a double scores lead of 1-9 to 0-6 by the interval - despite a missed penalty as well from Alan Connolly.
Barryt Walsh got his side’s second goal on the changeover but Cody’s effort put the cat among the pigeons once more before the late strike sealed it for the visitors.
Afterwards O’Connor praised his side’s “workrate” as the difference on the day.
“It wasn't going to be anything nice down here. It wasn't going to be lovely first-touch hurling. It was about digging a result out and I think our boys battled very hard. We came under pressure two or three times in the second half and we went 10 minutes without a score, but we kept the scoreboard ticking over reasonably well.
“Alan's goal at the end was what was wanted as it put us five up at the time and they probably had to get a goal to beat us. We'll take it nice and easy now and freshen up for next Saturday night, but we're looking forward to it,” he stressed.
Cork: P O’Sullivan; N O’Leary, D O’Leary, S O’Donoghue; E Downey, C Joyce, C O’Brien (0-1); T O’Mahony, T O’Connell (0-1); D Fitzgibbon (0-1), W Buckley (0-1), H O’Connor; B Walsh (1-0), B Hayes (1-1), A Connolly (0-7f) Subs: E Twomey for C. O’Brien 49th min; R O’Flynn for H. O’Connor 59th min; G Mellerick for D. O’Leary 65th min; A Walsh (1-0) for B. Walsh 67th min; M Mullins for T. O’Mahony 70th min.
Kilkenny: A Tallis; M Butler, M Carey, I Bolger; K Doyle, D Corcoran (0-1), R Reid; J Molloy, D Blanchfield (0-2); L Moore, C Kenny (0-8, 0-7f, 0-1 65), P Deegan; E McDermott (0-1), E Cody (1-0), M Keoghan (0-2) Subs: J Donnelly (0-1) for McDermott 45th min; T Phelan for C. Doyle 55th min; L Connellan for R. Reid 60th min; L Hogan for Keoghan 65th min; D Barcoe for I. Bolger 68th min.
Ref: T Walsh (Waterford).
