On his return to U20 action, Barry Walsh was held scoreless in the first half, but came up with the match-winning 1-5 contribution after the break. His rob also created Finn O\u2019Brien\u2019s 58th-minute goal before launching the insurance point from his own 45.<\/p>\n
The downside of the semi-final is that it falls just three days before the seniors\u2019 trip to Waterford.<\/p>\n
When asked about Walsh\u2019s potential availability, Noel Furlong said: \u201cI don’t know what’s going to happen, so we’ll have to see.\u201d Following a man-of-the-match display in Waterford, James O\u2019Brien stayed on free-taking duties and produced a solid 0-6 total.<\/p>\n
\u201cJames is a very established free-taker,\u201d said Furlong. \u201cHe’s over 90% conversion rate, so just with the uncertainty around Barry’s availability, it’s just good to have a consistent approach with that, and Barry was all for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarry hit one or two as well tonight, so we’ll review it as we go along.\u201d Clare had strong contributions from Thomas O\u2019Connor (2-2) and Fred Hegarty (0-8), who both matched Walsh\u2019s haul.<\/p>\n
The Cork net had to withstand a stoppage-time barrage as \u00d3is\u00edn Walsh saved from Hegarty and Michael Collins.<\/p>\n
Starting into a strong wind, Cork got the first two points through Johnny Murphy and James O\u2019Brien. Paul Rodgers soon fed O\u2019Connor for the opening goal and a 1-1 to 0-2 advantage.<\/p>\n
From there, Clare led throughout the first half, but never built the type of cushion they would\u2019ve desired.<\/p>\n
![\"Cork's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5059973_4_articleinlinemobile_EOHCorkClare07.jpg\" "\\"Cork's")
Cork’s Zach Biggane racing on to the sliotar from Clare’s Matthew O’Halloran and Jamie Moylan. Pic: Eddie O’Hare.<\/p>\n
Cork got their first goal in the 13th minute. Barry O\u2019Flynn\u2019s initial shot was blocked by Eoghan Gunning, but the Rebel captain swooped in to rattle the net; 1-5 to 1-4.<\/p>\n
Clare responded well to cancel out that blow with three consecutive points. O\u2019Connor came close to a goal, when flashing just over with an action akin to a tennis serve.<\/p>\n
Cork hit back with their own three in a row via Ben Walsh and two James O\u2019Brien frees.<\/p>\n
Kilroy doubled his tally to four points, including one swung over with one knee on the ground. But Cork struck the last two points from Zack Biggane and James O\u2019Brien (free) to close the half-time deficit to one; 1-11 to 1-10.<\/p>\n
They flipped that with the first 1-2 of the second half. An \u00d3is\u00edn Walsh puck-out picked out the untracked run of wing-back David O\u2019Leary. When the sliotar was knocked loose, O\u2019Flynn scooped it for Murphy to finish.<\/p>\n
Clare jumped ahead with 1-2 of their own. Gunning, Rodgers, and Hegarty were involved before O\u2019Connor tucked away his second goal. After a super fetch, Rodgers was denied another by \u00d3is\u00edn Walsh.<\/p>\n
Cork countered to Barry Walsh, who had just been relocated to full-forward to escape the close attention of Matthew O\u2019Halloran. The change of scenery did him good as he shook off a foul and beat two more defenders to blast a precise shot inside the far post. That six-point swing made it 3-13 to 2-15.<\/p>\n
Walsh soon went for goal from a close-range free, which flew over as Cork chased Tipp\u2019s score difference.<\/p>\n
But their plans were halted by Clare\u2019s persistence, led by Hegarty, who tagged on three from play in the second half.<\/p>\n
Finn O\u2019Brien hit the net and James O\u2019Brien was denied by Mark Sheedy, but they still had to hold on through three minutes of stoppage-time chaos.<\/p>\n
\n Scorers for Cork: Barry Walsh (1-5, 0-1 free); Johnny Murphy (1-2); James O\u2019Brien (0-6, 5 frees); B O\u2019Flynn, F O\u2019Brien (1-0 each); Z Biggane (0-2); D Heavin, C Garde, Ben Walsh, C Noonan (0-1 each).<\/p>\n
\n Scorers for Clare: T O\u2019Connor (2-2); F Hegarty (0-8, 5 frees); M Collins, R Kilroy (0-4 each); R Hayes, D Costello, P Rodgers (0-1 each).<\/p>\n
\n CORK: \u00d3 Walsh (Youghal); D Fitzgerald (Bride Rovers), M Barrett (Carrigtwohill), D Heavin (Russell Rovers); MT Brosnan (Glen Rovers), C Garde (Lisgoold), D O\u2019Leary (Ballincollig); Ben Walsh (Killeagh), C Noonan (Kanturk); Z Biggane (Charleville), Barry Walsh (Killeagh), James O\u2019Brien (Cloyne); Johnny Murphy (Dromina), B O\u2019Flynn (Sarsfields, capt), F O\u2019Brien (Erin\u2019s Own).<\/p>\n
\n Subs: J Counihan (Watergrasshill) for Noonan (51-54, temp), John Murphy (Mallow) for Biggane (55), Counihan for O\u2019Leary (57), C O\u2019Sullivan (Na Piarsaigh) for F O\u2019Brien (58), Jack O\u2019Brien (Douglas) for Brosnan (59).<\/p>\n
\n CLARE: M Sheedy (Sixmilebridge); J Casey (Kilmaley), R Loftus (\u00c9ire \u00d3g Ennis), E Gunning (Broadford, capt); J Moylan (Cratloe), M O\u2019Halloran (Sixmilebridge), R Hayes (Tulla); D Costelloe (Ballyea), G Ball (St Joseph\u2019s Doora-Barefield); F Hegarty (Inagh-Kilnamona), M Collins (Clonlara), R Kilroy (Banner); S Boyce (O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s Mills), T O\u2019Connor (St Joseph\u2019s Doora-Barefield), P Rodgers (Scariff).<\/p>\n
\n Subs: H Doherty (Clarecastle) for Boyce (39), J Hegarty (Inagh-Kilnamona) for Moylan (47), R Keane (Killanena) for Ball (49), M Cleary (\u00c9ire \u00d3g Ennis) for Rodgers (54), S Arthur (Newmarket-on-Fergus) for Costello (60).<\/p>\n
\n Referee: Kieran Guina (Limerick).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They\u2019ll have to come back to do it all over again next Wednesday after Cork defeated Clare to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[30041,2110,1964,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-424123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-clare-gaa","tag-cork-sport","tag-cork-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424123","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=424123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}