Munster Senior Hurling Championship

CORK 2-22 WATERFORD 1-19

By Dermot Keyes at Walsh Park for GAA.ie

Cork stormed back into Munster Championship contention thanks to a win that was even more commanding than their six-point margin of victory suggested.

Inspired by Conor Lehane and Seamus Harnedy, Kieran Kingston’s side engineered a first provincial championship win for the Rebels at Walsh Park since last they met at this venue in this competition back in 1975.

With the breeze in their favour in front of a 10,986-strong gate, Cork held a slender 1-12 to 1-11 advantage following a first half which ebbed and flowed in either direction.

Waterford led by 0-6 to 0-2 after 13 minutes having struck four unanswered white flags, with Stephen Bennett’s free-taking eye clearly well calibrated during the opening half.

But the Rebels roared back into contention to lead by 1-6 to six points by the 22nd minute, with Alan Connolly reacting well to Shaun O’Brien’s save to find the net following assistance from Darragh Fitzgibbon and Robbie O’Flynn.

But Waterford recovered well and were back in front by the 27th minute thanks to a goal from Michael Kiely following excellent approach play by Dessie Hutchinson and Patrick Curran.

Between then and the break, the game swung one way and then the other, with long distance points by Cork goalkeeper Patrick Collins and Mark Coleman particularly catching the eye. While Waterford had shown enough in the first half to suggest they could turn the tide after the interval, Cork had other ideas entirely.

Points from Patrick Horgan, on the day he became the Championship’s all-time leading scorer and substitute Shane Kingston, extended Cork’s lead before Patrick Curran and Stephen Bennett (a free) pointed to reduce the arrears.

Waterford struggled to develop any meaningful level of rhythm while Cork kept the scoreboard working through Seamus Harnedy’s brace of points in the 44th and 49th minutes respectively.

Deise substitute Neil Montgomery found his range in the 50th minute and when Austin Gleeson pointed barely a minute later, the home crowd found its voice once more.

The next score felt like it would prove critical and so it did, as Alan Connolly, played in by Harnedy following a sweeping upfield move, goaled for the second time to leave Cork four clear.

Lehane pushed Cork further ahead before Deise sub Peter Hogan opened his account, followed moments later by a second Montgomery point to leave a goal separating the sides.

Connolly doubled the ball over the City End crossbar in the 62nd minute, followed moments later by Austin Gleeson’s dismissal for a second bookable offence, as Waterford’s slope grew increasingly steeper.

Lehane and Curran (after much deliberation among the officials) traded points in the 66th and 68th minutes and when Shane Bennett found his range with just a minute of normal time remaining, the hosts still had a sniff.

But with the extra man and a level of confidence they’d not demonstrated against either Limerick or Clare, Cork finished much the stronger with a brace from Lehane and a brilliant catch and shot by Harnedy hammering home the Rebels’ advantage.

And so a Super Sunday now awaits, with Cork taking on Tipperary in Semple Stadium while a deflated Waterford will head to Cusack Park (both 4pm throw-ins) for a match they know they must win.

Scorers for Waterford: Stephen Bennett (0-7; 0-6f), Austin Gleeson (0-4; 0-1f), Patrick Curran (0-3; 0-1f), Michael Kiely (1-0), Neil Montgomery (0-2), Jack Prendergast (0-1), Peter Hogan (0-1), Shane Bennett (0-1).

Scorers for Cork: Alan Connolly (2-1), Seamus Harnedy (0-5), Conor Lehane (0-5; 0-2f), Patrick Horgan (0-4f), Mark Coleman (0-2), Darragh Fitzgibbon (0-2), Luke Meade (0-1), Shane Kingston (0-1), Patrick Collins (0-1).

Waterford: Shaun O’Brien;Conor Gleeson, Conor Prunty, Shane McNulty; Jack Fagan, Tadhg De Búrca, Carthach Daly; Jamie Barron, Calum Lyons; Jack Prendergast, Austin Gleeson, Patrick Curran; Dessie Hutchinson, Stephen Bennett, Michael Kiely. Subs: Peter Hogan for Carhtach Daly (HT), Darragh Lyons for Jamie Barron and Neil Montgomery for Jamie Barron (both 47), Shane Bennett for Stephen Bennett (64).

Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Robert Downey, Sean O’Donoghue; Damian Cahalane, Ciarán Joyce, Mark Coleman; Darragh Fitzgibbon, Luke Meade; Robbie O’Flynn, Patrick Horgan, Conor Lehane; Alan Connolly, Seamus Harnedy, Shane Barrett. Subs: Shane Kingston for Shane Barrett (28), Tim O’Mahony for Patrick Horgan (39), Conor Cahalane for Robbie O’Flynn (63),

Referee: James Owens (Wexford)

By Pádraig Ferguson – Article taken from gaa.ie

Patrick Horgan is on course to make hurling history for Cork this Sunday and move to the head of the all-time leading scorers’ chart.

The Rebel sharp-shooter is six points shy of Galway legend Joe Canning, with Horgan currently on 561 points in the SHC to Canning’s massive haul of 567 collected between 2008 and 2021, via 27-486.

Sandwiched in between them is Kilkenny genius, and current Galway boss, Henry Shefflin who scored 27-484 or 565 points in total during this phenomenal career amassing 10 All-Ireland wins.

But Glen Rovers ace Horgan, has both of those distinguished players in his sights on a day when Cork have a win or bust showdown with Waterford in Walsh Park.

Horgan had scored 22-467 or 491 points for Cork prior to this summer’s championship and has added 19 points over the two games to date.

Given his prolific finishing ability from frees and play, the seven points needed to move to the top slot would look well within his capability, although the overall team result rather than a personal tally will be the big goal for Horgan and the Rebels as they look to recover from their heavy defeat to Limerick and subsequent misfire against Clare.

Between Sunday’s trip to Waterford and the following assignment against Tipperary, it now looks virtually certain that Horgan will make this history and be crowned king of the top scorers list.

Clare’s blistering start to the campaign has been led by Tony Kelly who moved to the front of the Banner’s all-time championship scoring charts in their crucial win over the Rebels last time out, with Kelly now standing on a haul of 268 career points, over taking Niall Gilligan who had scored 20-196 in his 54 matches.

This has also been a landmark summer for Kilkenny’s TJ Reid. The Ballyhale Shamrocks marksman became only the fourth hurler in history after Canning, Shefflin and Horgan to break the 500-point barrier and he currently stands on 511 points ahead of their crunch meeting with Dublin on Saturday.

Reid, replaced at half time in their dramatic one-point defeat by Galway last time out will be up against a Dublin side who are heavily reliant on their own dead ball ace Donal Burke with the Na Fianna man now on 120 points having broken the career century during this Leinster championship.

Limerick have been at the forefront of the modern-day revolution that has seen score board operators kept exceptionally busy as point totals easily break the 20 mark and can even reach the 30-point mark.

Live wire inside forward and free taker Aaron Gillane is currently on 208 career championship points having been on 177 after their All-Ireland triumph of last summer, a stunning total from a career that only began in 2017.