Cork 0-17
\nDonegal 1-13
\nMATTHEW HURLEY REPORTS<\/p>\n
FEW would have predicted this outcome, especially when Cork trailed All-Ireland favourites Donegal by five points at half time in this All-Ireland SFC Round 2A clash in Ballybofey.<\/p>\n
But a superb second-half display, in which the Rebels outscored the Division 1 champions by 0-12 to 0-6, showcased the resilience and belief within John Cleary\u2019s side as they booked their place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
Cork footballers flew up to Derry for this clash on Saturday, and were flying high afterwards, too.<\/p>\n
\u2018Don\u2019t underestimate this group. We came up here to win,\u2019 Cork stalwart Ruair\u00ed Deane told The Southern Star.<\/p>\n
\u2018We weren\u2019t given much of a chance but, in fairness to the people on board and the people in the background, they made it easier for us. We owed them something.\u2019<\/p>\n
The Bantry Blues veteran played a crucial role in the winning score, earning the foul that led to Steven Sherlock\u2019s decisive two-point free on 65 minutes.<\/p>\n
Donegal threw everything at Cork in the closing stages but could not find the goal they needed. Turlough Carr\u2019s late effort sailed over rather than under the crossbar and the final whistle sparked memorable Cork celebrations.<\/p>\n
\u2018There was very little in it. We made some errors but Donegal had no lost turnovers in the first half and we forced them into a few in the second half. That gave us momentum,\u2019 Deane said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Sherlock\u2019s two-point free and Tommy\u2019s (Walsh) outrageous sliding two-pointer that he has been practising all year came off today.\u2019<\/p>\n
Cork\u2019s four second-half two-pointers proved decisive. Luke Fahy\u2019s effort reduced the deficit to a single point on 61 minutes before a magnificent long-range strike from Tommy Walsh edged the Rebels ahead for the first time, 0-15 to 1-11, a minute later.<\/p>\n
Donegal responded through Jason McGee to level matters, but Cork kept their composure when it mattered most.<\/p>\n
\u2018We might have been five points down, but we weren\u2019t overly disappointed at half time. I thought we defended heroically,\u2019 Cork manager John Cleary said.<\/p>\n
\u2018We had one lapse and they got the goal.<\/p>\n
\u2018In the modern game, five points is nothing. We were down eight against Meath too. We said we\u2019d keep chipping away and we knew we had two-point scorers.<\/p>\n
\u2018We didn\u2019t expect them to come from Luke and Tommy, but we knew we had kickers who could get us back into the game.\u2019<\/p>\n
Cleary felt the new rules played a major role in Cork\u2019s comeback.<\/p>\n
\u2018You can be down five or six points, get a couple of two-pointers and you’re back in the game. That’s what happened today.<\/p>\n
\u2018We had nothing to lose. We went for it and they were holding what they had.<\/p>\n
\u2018With our lads, we said at half time that if we’re in it with ten minutes to go, just go for it. It wasn’t all on the line today. We knew if we didn’t get over the line, we’d have another day next week.\u2019<\/p>\n
After Conor O\u2019Donnell\u2019s first-half goal followed a Cork kick-out error, the game appeared to be unfolding as expected for the home side. Donegal led 1-7 to 0-5 at the interval and looked in control.<\/p>\n
Cork, however, never lost belief.<\/p>\n
\u2018We were calm enough,\u2019 goalkeeper Patrick Doyle said.<\/p>\n
\u2018If you take out the goal, which came from an error, we were well in it. These things happen.<\/p>\n
\u2018Aside from that, in every other metric we were very close to them. There was no sense of panic.<\/p>\n
\u2018We got on top and won a couple of the breaks. We got on top of the kick-outs near the end, particularly their kick-out. We won two or three there late on, which was crucial.<\/p>\n
\u2018They had a couple of chances. If that one at the end had splashed into the top corner, we’d be going home crying.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s a good win.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scorers<\/p>\n
Cork: Steven Sherlock 0-9 (3 2ptf, 1 2pt, 1 45); Luke Fahy, Tommy Walsh 0-2 (1 2pt) each; Dara Sheedy, Se\u00e1n McDonnell, Conor Corbett, Ian Maguire 0-1 each.<\/p>\n
Donegal: Ois\u00edn Gallen 0-4; Conor O\u2019Donnell 1-0; Michael Murphy (1f), Michael Langan 0-2 each; Ryan McHugh, Shane O\u2019Donnell, Peadar Mogan, Jason McGee, Turlough Carr 0-1 each.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cork: Patrick Doyle (Knocknagree); Maurice Shanley (Clonakilty), Daniel O\u2019Mahony (Knocknagree), Se\u00e1n Meehan (Kiskeam); Brian O\u2019Driscoll (Carrigaline), Tommy Walsh (Kanturk), Luke Fahy (Ballincollig); Ian Maguire (captain, St Finbarr\u2019s), Se\u00e1n Walsh (Mitchelstown); Paul Walsh (Kanturk), Dara Sheedy (Bantry Blues), Se\u00e1n McDonnell (Mallow); Mark Cronin (Nemo Rangers), Chris \u00d3g Jones (Uibh Laoire), Steven Sherlock (St Finbarr\u2019s).<\/p>\n
Subs: Ruair\u00ed Deane (Bantry Blues) for D Sheedy (temp, 46-ft); Conor Corbett (Clyda Rovers) for M Cronin (50); Jacob O\u2019Driscoll (Valley Rovers) for S Meehan (59, inj); Brian Hurley (Castlehaven) for C \u00d3g Jones, Conor Cahalane (Castlehaven) for P Walsh (both 65); Rory Maguire (Castlehaven) for L Fahy (69).<\/p>\n
Donegal: Shaun Patton; Eoghan B\u00e1n Gallagher, Brendan McCole, Peadar Mogan; Ryan McHugh, Caolan McGonagle, Finnbarr Roarty; Jason McGee, Hugh McFadden; Shane O\u2019Donnell (joint-captain), Michael Langan (joint-captain), Ciar\u00e1n Moore; Conor O\u2019Donnell, Michael Murphy, Ois\u00edn Gallen.<\/p>\n
Subs: Daire \u00d3 Baoill for S O\u2019Donnell, Caolan McColgan for R McHugh (both 55); Turlough Carr for C O\u2019Donnell (59); Shea Malone for O Gallen (65).<\/p>\n
Referee: David Gough (Meath).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cork 0-17 Donegal 1-13 MATTHEW HURLEY REPORTS FEW would have predicted this outcome, especially when Cork trailed All-Ireland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-505677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505677","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=505677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}