{"id":263635,"date":"2026-01-25T19:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T19:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/263635\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T19:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T19:09:09","slug":"cork-on-top-throughout-as-waterford-seen-off-in-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/263635\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork on top throughout as Waterford seen off in opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Cork 3-25\n <\/p>\n

\n Waterford 1-17\n <\/p>\n

Cork\u2019s defence of the Allianz Hurling League title opened with a comfortable victory over Waterford at SuperValu P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

A crowd of 20,464 was present for Ben O\u2019Connor\u2019s first game in charge at the venue \u2013 the fourth successive \u2018regular\u2019 home league game to have a crowd in excess of the teens \u2013 while the result extends to eight the unbeaten record at the venue across league and championship.<\/p>\n

Given that Cork were able to start ten of the All-Ireland final starting side and a callow Waterford lacked their Ballygunner contingent as well as a number of other key names, a home victory was to be expected but the manner in which they asserted themselves will be pleasing to the new manager.<\/p>\n

A strong display of crisp and sharp hurling gave the hosts a 2-16 to 0-9 half-time lead against the Division 1B champions of 2025 and, while the second half lacked the same intensity, the destination of the two points was always certain.<\/p>\n

Cork had the lead inside 30 seconds of the start as Mark Coleman\u2019s nice diagonal pass was well-controlled by Declan Dalton before he fired over. It was the first of a tally of 1-4 for the Fr O\u2019Neill\u2019s man, who operated in the full-forward line alongside Alan Connolly, while debutant William Buckley rotated between the inside sector. All three were to find the net, combining for 3-10.<\/p>\n

Connolly had the first goal, in the 18th minute \u2013 and by that stage Cork had already amassed an 0-11 to 0-3 lead, with the half-back line of Cormac O\u2019Brien, Robert Downey and Coleman proving a plentiful source for scoring opportunities.<\/p>\n

\"AlanAlan Connolly of Cork celebrates after scoring his side’s first goal. Picture: Ben McShane\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

The goal came in similar fashion: corner-back Se\u00e1n O\u2019Donoghue picked up possession on his own 65 and fed a searching ball to Dalton. While he could have gone for his own score from a tight angle on the right, he unselfishly played across to Connolly, who finished from close range.<\/p>\n

While Reuben Halloran\u2019s points, from play and dead balls, helped Waterford to slowly build their scoring output, Cork\u2019s lead had grown to 12 points, 1-15 to 0-6, by the time the second goal came, just before the half-hour.<\/p>\n

Diarmuid Healy, lively throughout, found Brian Roche on the run and, while Mark Fitzgerald\u2019s foul on him began outside the large rectangle, referee Johnny Murphy deemed the offence to be worthy of a penalty and a black card. There was never any doubt that Dalton would extend the punishment by drilling past Billy Nolan.<\/p>\n

By half-time, they were 13 to the good and Coleman and Buckley had nice points early in the second half, the latter after O\u2019Donoghue, new captain Fitzgibbon and Roche.<\/p>\n

\"DarraghDarragh Fitzgibbon takes on Shane Bennett of Waterford. Picture: Ben McShane\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

Waterford did get a chance to slightly erode what had become a 15-point deficit when they were awarded a black-card penalty \u2013 Robert Downey the guilty Cork player \u2013 and Shane Bennett netted. However, Cork hit back instantly; Alan Walsh, not long on, forced a turnover that saw Connolly gain possession and played in Buckley to finish one-handed, despite being fouled.<\/p>\n

The St Finbarr\u2019s man would finish with 1-4 to his name, while another debutant, Hugh O\u2019Connor, came off the bench to add a point as Cork eased clear, Halloran\u2019s frees for Waterford notwithstanding, while Niall O\u2019Leary excelled in defence. The visitors finished with 14 as Se\u00e1n Walsh was dismissed for a late off-the-ball incident.<\/p>\n

Bigger tests await \u2013 beginning with Galway in Salthill next Saturday night \u2013 but the Rebels are up and running.<\/p>\n

\n Scorers for Cork: W Buckley, D Dalton (1-0 penalty) 1-4 each, A Connolly 1-2 (0-1 f), D Healy 0-4, D Fitzgibbon (0-1 f), S Barrett 0-3 each, M Coleman 0-2, T O\u2019Connell, B Roche, H O\u2019Connor 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

\n Waterford: R Halloran 0-13 (0-8 f, 0-2 65), S Bennett 1-0 penalty, J Barron 0-2, D Lyons, S Walsh, C Lyons 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

\n CORK: P Collins; N O\u2019Leary, D O\u2019Leary, S O\u2019Donoghue; C O\u2019Brien, R Downey, M Coleman; T O\u2019Connell, D Fitzgibbon; B Roche, S Barrett, D Healy; W Buckley, D Dalton, A Connolly.<\/p>\n

\n Subs: A Walsh for Dalton (42), H O\u2019Connor for Barrett (47), M Mullins for Downey (55), E Roche for D O\u2019Leary (50), R O\u2019Flynn for Healy (61).<\/p>\n

\n WATERFORD: B Nolan; C Prunty, D Lalor, C Keane; I Daly, M Fitzgerald, Shane Bennett; D Lyons, S Mackey; R Halloran, J Barron, J Fagan; J Power, S Walsh, C Treen.<\/p>\n

\n Subs: J Booth for Fagan (8, injured), B Lynch for Lalor (20, injured), C Lyons for Power (41), M Kiely for Booth (51), M Power for Daly (58).<\/p>\n

\n Referee: J Murphy (Limerick). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cork 3-25 Waterford 1-17 Cork\u2019s defence of the Allianz Hurling League title opened with a comfortable victory over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1965,1964,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-263635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-hurling","9":"tag-cork-gaa","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}