![\"William](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5074272_8_articleinlinemobile_3450563.jpg\" "\\"William")
William Buckley of Cork looks to evade Waterford’s Ian Kenny. Picture:\u00a0Seb Daly\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n\n Waterford 0-25\n <\/p>\n
\n Cork 1-26\n <\/p>\n
Cork are on the verge of another Munster SHC final appearance following a hard-fought win over Waterford at Azzurri Walsh Park on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n
With six points on the board, the only way that the Rebels won\u2019t be in the decider is if both Clare and Limerick win their remaining games \u2013 including the Banner\u2019s trip to Cork \u2013 and do enough to edge the Rebels out on scoring difference.<\/p>\n
Ben O\u2019Connor\u2019s side had no shortage of totemic displays, not least Tim O\u2019Mahony as he slotted in at centre-back and the seven-point haul of Brian Hayes, while captain Darragh Fitzgibbon, Niall O’Leary and Mark Coleman were central as Cork battled to put themselves on top in the second half.<\/p>\n
For Waterford, the result means elimination before their trip to Limerick and they will rue a trio of first-half injuries as they lost Ian Kenny, Iarlaith Daly and Stephen Bennett.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, they held the lead until midway through the second half, when Cork finally hit the front again as they hit three on the trot. <\/p>\n
Se\u00e1n O\u2019Donoghue picked up a loose Waterford delivery and fed William Buckley for his third; then O\u2019Mahony feinted to shoot from a long-range free but landed the ball on Hayes, who assisted Shane Barrett to level.<\/p>\n
There was a chance for Waterford to go back in front with a free from halfway \u2013 Hutchinson left it to Shane Bannett, who sent a short ground stroke to Nolan after he had made a burst from goal, but the wind held it up and Robbie O\u2019Flynn\u2019s nice pass to Tommy O\u2019Connell on the run led to Connolly\u2019s eighth.<\/p>\n
It was the Blackrock man who was central to the next score too as he forced a turnover and drove towards goal \u2013 an illegal challenge led to Cork\u2019s second penalty of the game, Jack Fagan black-carded. Connolly had missed the first and this time, Coleman came forward to take it and gave Nolan no chance.<\/p>\n
William Buckley of Cork looks to evade Waterford’s Ian Kenny. Picture:\u00a0Seb Daly\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
The goal put Cork four ahead; Hutchinson replied and then sub Peter Hogan might have levelled but Patrick Collins \u2013 who had earlier denied Hutchinson \u2013 saved brilliantly and Connolly gave breathing space again with another free.<\/p>\n
Two Hutchinson frees left two in it as injury dawned but sub S\u00e9amus Harnedy and Fitzgibbon (free) secured the win and guaranteed Cork an All-Ireland quarter-final at worst.<\/p>\n
The first half was well-contested but scrappy at times, with Waterford\u2019s 0-12 to 0-10 lead the only instance of one of the sides holding an advantage of more than a point.<\/p>\n
Brian Hayes was in electric form, scoring six points from play, and it was he who was fouled for the 33rd-minute penalty that offered the Rebels their best chance of a goal in the opening period.<\/p>\n
In the wake of Mark Fitzgerald\u2019s foul on Hayes, for which the defender was black-carded, Connolly had scooped the loose ball over Billy Nolan but Se\u00e1n Stack had blown his whistle \u2013 Connolly\u2019s strike from the 20m line was kept low but Nolan did well to save.<\/p>\n
The score was 0-12 to 0-11 at that stage \u2013 Hugh O\u2019Connor levelled after a good interception before Dessie Hutchinson popped over a Waterford free and the attacker did the same after Hayes\u2019s sixth had tied the game again.<\/p>\n
It sent the home side in with a 0-13 to 0-12 lead and, despite the shortage in manpower, they actually extended their advantage early in the second half prior to Fitzgerald\u2019s return. Then, after parity was restored, Cork twice went close to goals \u2013 Hayes poking a shot just wide after linking well with Buckley while Connolly shot wide from a tight angle.<\/p>\n
By that stage, Cork had fallen 0-18 to 0-15 behind as Waterford dealt well with having to play into the stiff breeze but a Connolly free and a huge Fitzgibbon effort brought Cork to within a point. <\/p>\n
Waterford might have made that four but Eoin Downey and Mark Coleman combined to\u00a0deny Se\u00e1n Walsh and the next ten minutes saw the sides trade points as the lead oscillated between one and two.<\/p>\n
\n Scorers for Waterford: D Hutchinson 0-8 (0-7 f), K Mahony, J Barron, C Lyons 0-3 each, S Mackey, Stephen Bennett (f), S Walsh 0-2 each.<\/p>\n
\n Cork: A Connolly 0-9 (0-6 f), B Hayes 0-7, D Fitzgibbon (0-1 f), W Buckley 0-3 each, M Coleman 1-0 pen, H O\u2019Connor 0-2, S Barrett, S Harnedy 0-1 each.<\/p>\n
\n WATERFORD: B Nolan; M Fitzgerald, A O\u2019Neill, I Kenny; I Daly, P Leavey, J Fagan; S Mackey, J Barron; S Walsh, J Prendergast, C Lyons; K Mahony, Stephen Bennett, D Hutchinson.<\/p>\n
\n Subs: C Keane for Kenny (20, injured), Shane Bennett for Daly (22, injured), P Hogan for Stephen Bennett (35+2, injured), M Kiely for Mahony (64), D Lyons for Mackey (65).<\/p>\n
\n CORK: P Collins; N O\u2019Leary, D Cahalane, S O\u2019Donoghue; E Downey, T O\u2019Mahony, M Coleman; T O\u2019Connell, H O\u2019Connor; D Healy, S Barrett, D Fitzgibbon; A Connolly, B Hayes, W Buckley.<\/p>\n
\n Subs: G Millerick for O\u2019Donoghue (30-ht), R O\u2019Flynn for O\u2019Connor (51), C O\u2019Brien for Downey (55), S Harnedy for Healy (59), P Power for Connolly (70).<\/p>\n
\n Referee: S Stack (Dublin).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waterford 0-25 Cork 1-26 Cork are on the verge of another Munster SHC final appearance following a hard-fought…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1965,1964,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-440828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-hurling","tag-cork-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440828","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=440828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}