![\"Lorcan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5126706_4_articleinline_3490413.jpg\" "\\"Lorcan")
Lorcan Higgins of Derry in action against Conor Downing, left and Darragh O’Sullivan of Cork. Picture: Sam Barnes\/Sportsfile<\/p>\nCork: 2-19 (2-1-17)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derry: 2-8 (2-0-8)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another memorable day for Cork football as the Rebel minors showed their quality to comfortably defeat Derry in the Electric Ireland All-Ireland MFC semi-final at Parnell Park on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n
Seven days on from the seniors\u2019 stunning win away to Donegal, the buzz around the big ball on Leeside continues to trend in a positive direction. Cork are back in the All-Ireland decider at this grade for the first time since they last won the competition in 2019. Tyrone will provide the opposition in two weeks.<\/p>\n
The Rebels were rocked by two early goals in this one, but recovered magnificently to lead by two at the short whistle. They were the better team by a stretch in the second half, pulling away to win by eleven.<\/p>\n
Yet again, goalkeeper Rory Twohig was outstanding for Cork, his kicking ability a lethal weapon as he finished with 0-5, including an orange flag from a free. But this was another eye-catching collective performance, different players stepping up at different stages. It was their best display to date.<\/p>\n
Keith Ricken\u2019s charges started brightly with a Joe Miskella point and a 45 from Twohig. But Derry\u2019s first real attack yielded a goal, Lorcan Higgins laying the ball on a plate for Conor O\u2019Kane to finish after five minutes.<\/p>\n
Lorcan Higgins of Derry in action against Conor Downing, left and Darragh O’Sullivan of Cork. Picture: Sam Barnes\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
A lovely effort from Ben Hegarty following a flowing move drew Cork level, but the Ulster side struck again on 11 minutes when Rocco Devlin fired into the top corner after a driving run, making it 2-0 to 0-3.<\/p>\n
The sides traded white flags before an outrageous point from a Twohig free from a difficult angle cut the gap to two. Cork then had a goal chance when Hegarty set up Darragh O\u2019Sullivan, but his effort was blocked on the line. It was brought back for the mark and O\u2019Sullivan tapped it over.<\/p>\n
Twohig added another 45 and a beauty of an orange flag from a free to give Cork a 0-9 to 2-1 buffer with five minutes to the break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eoghan Ahern was making things tick as the Leesiders seized momentum. A long Twohig free dropped into the square and was punched home by O\u2019Sullivan, but it was disallowed for a square ball \u2014 a very harsh call.<\/p>\n
Derry went down the field where Tom\u00e1s Devlin pointed, only for Ahern to convert a free as Cork led 0-10 to 2-2. The sides swapped points and the Rebels went in 0-11 to 2-3 ahead at half-time.<\/p>\n
Derry started on the front foot after the restart but a pair of wides frustrated them. McDermott left the bare minimum between the teams before Don Mulholland levelled matters. The Oakleafers were enjoying a purple patch and Tadhg Bradley nudged them ahead, 2-6 to 0-11 after 37 minutes.<\/p>\n
![\"Cork](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5126712_1_articleinline_3490569.jpg\" "\\"Cork")
Cork players Donal Herlihy, left, and Kieran O’Shea celebrate after their side’s victory. Picture: Sam Barnes\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
Ahern\u2019s free was timely from a Cork perspective and settled them. Tom Whooley then finished expertly to the net after being allowed to run and run, pushing Cork 1-12 to 2-6 ahead with 19 minutes left.<\/p>\n
The sides swapped white flags as the game remained finely poised entering the final quarter. Conor Downing could have given Cork a real leg-up but his goal effort drifted wide. Derry had their own green-flag chance, but Devlin was denied brilliantly by Twohig.<\/p>\n
Ahern pushed Cork four clear, followed by a Miskella point. The Rebels put the game to bed with five minutes remaining when sub Alex O\u2019Herlihy finished to the net after Ahern\u2019s involvement in the build-up, making it 2-15 to 2-7.<\/p>\n
Cork added four points on the trot, with sub Kevin O\u2019Donovan contributing two. Derry tagged on a late white flag, but the job was long done for Cork.<\/p>\n
A brilliant showing from the young Rebels.<\/p>\n
Scorers for Cork: R Twohig 0-5 (1 2pt f, 0-2 45, 0-1 f), T Whooley 1-2, E Ahern 0-4 (0-3 f), A O\u2019Herlihy 1-0, B Hegarty (0-1 f), K O\u2019Donovan, J Miskella 0-2 each, D O\u2019Sullivan (mark), D Herlihy 0-1 each.<\/p>\n
Derry: C O\u2019Kane, R Devlin 1-0 each, D Mulholland, N McDermott (0-2 f) 0-3 each, T Bradley, T Delvin 0-1 each.<\/p>\n
CORK: R Twohig (Kilmeen); R McCormack (Midleton), A O\u2019Sullivan (Glanmire), C Garvey (St Finbarr\u2019s); D O\u2019Sullivan (Erin\u2019s Own), C Downing (Adrigole), E Lynch (Ballincollig); K O\u2019Shea (Urhan), C Murphy (Barryroe); E Ahern (Carrigaline), B Hegarty (Ballinora), J Miskella (Ballincollig, c); T Whooley (Clonakilty), J Barry (Aghinagh), D Herlihy (Shamrocks).<\/p>\n
Subs: P Kelly (Naomh Ab\u00e1n) for A O\u2019Sullivan (h-t, inj), K O\u2019Donovan (O\u2019Donovan Rossa) for J Barry, A O\u2019Herlihy (St Finbarr\u2019s) for D Herlihy (both 44), F O\u2019Donovan (Clonakilty) for D O\u2019Sullivan (48), D O\u2019Mahony (Newcestown) for C Garvey (52).<\/p>\n
DERRY: M Doherty; D McEldowney, C Sargent, D McKaigue; J McCartney, C Campbell, L Higgins; G Gormley, J Mullan; C O\u2019Kane, D Mulholland (c), N McDermott; T Devlin, T Bradley, R Devlin.<\/p>\n
Subs: P McPeake for J McCartney (45), C McGuckin for T Devlin (50), C McDonnell for T Bradley, T Scullion for C Campbell (both 53), U McCloskey for G Gormley (61).<\/p>\n
Referee: Anthony Coyne (Westmeath).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cork: 2-19 (2-1-17)\u00a0 Derry: 2-8 (2-0-8)\u00a0 Another memorable day for Cork football as the Rebel minors showed their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[169823,1964,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-509976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-echo-instagram","tag-cork-gaa","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509976","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=509976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}