Kilkenny minors outclassed in All-Ireland championship loss to Cork
Cork 2-25 Kilkenny 1-16
A miserable week for Kilkenny hurling continued with Cork having 12 points to spare over the Cats in Saturday’s Electric Ireland Ireland MHC Quarter-Final in Thurles.
It was a fourth defeat of the campaign for Gordon Byrne’s team but unlike previous naarow Leinster losses to Wexford and Galway, they were well beaten on this occasion with the Rebels proving much too classy for them on the afternoon.
Apart from a bright spell at the end of the first half which saw James Kavanagh find the net and a two point on the spin spell upon the resumption for the second half from Joe Dowling, the Cats were largely chasing as they failed to get their extra-time Leinster Final loss fully out of the system.
It was a closely fought opening to the game as points from Joe Dowling and Paddy Grace saw the sides deadlocked at 0-3 apiece after10 minutes of play.
Cork then found another gear with five of the next six scores with Bobby Power, Ryan Cagney and Callum Coffey showing well for the winners.
Dowling and Conn O’Neill Pembroke kept the Cats tapping away at the scoreboard but when Callum Coffey bagged the opening goal of the game to give Cork a seven point advantage, the signs looked ominous from a Kilkenny point of view.
To the Noresiders credit they rallied before the break and got the gap back to five with James Kavanagh netting a goal after he latched onto a long delivery from Jamie Walsh into the square.
Two Joe Dowling frees at the start of the second half left only a puck of the ball between the sides as Cork’s lead got whittled down to just three points in the early stages of the second half (1-13 to 1-10).
Any hope of a Kilkenny comeback was largely extinguished by a pair of Bobby Power frees and a Stephen McHugh effort from play before Cork really put the foot down with Sean Riordan blasting in their second goal in the 38th minute.
Dowling knocked over a series of points before the end of the game but it wasn’t enough as Cork won out in the end with relative ease on a final 2-25 to 1-16 scoreline.
Teams and Scorers
Cork: Bobby Power 0-10 (9f); Seán Riordan 1-2; Callum Coffey 1-1; Ryan Cagney, Sam McCarthy 0-3 each; Stephen McHugh 0-2; Nathan Coffey, Dave Nolan, Tadhg McCarthy, Tom Huggins 0-1 each.
Kilkenny: Joe Dowling 0-10 (6f); James Kavanagh 1-0; Paddy Grace 0-2; Jack Bolger, Conn O’Neill Pembroke, Jamie Walsh, Robert Lacey 0-1 each.
CORK: Marley Walsh; Nathan Coffey, Finn Cahill, Jack Batterberry; Eoin Considine, Dave Nolan, Ger Kingston; Alfie Hennessey, Stephen McHugh; Cormac Murphy, Seán Riordan, Ryan Cagney; Callum Coffey, Bobby Power, Sam McCarthy.
Subs: Tadhg McCarthy for Murphy (25 mins), Liam O’Regan for Kingston (h-t), Conor Ronayne for C Coffey (53 mins), Tom Huggins for S McCarthy (56 mins), Tadhg Murphy for McHugh (56 mins).
KILKENNY: Eoin O’Gorman; Micheál Meany, Seán Corcoran, Seán Kavanagh; Paddy Grace, Jack Treacy, Oliver Phelan; Jack Bolger, Matthew Corr; Joe Dowling, Conn O’Neill Pembroke, Jamie Walsh; Ruairí Power, Brion Walsh, Liam Corcoran. Subs: James Kavanagh for B Walsh (14 mins), Robert Lacey for L Corcoran (37 mins), Cian Franks for Corr (42 mins), Daniel Lawlor for Bolger (58 mins).
Referee: James Judge (Mayo).