oneills.com Munster U20 Hurling Championship
Cork 2-22 Clare 1-19
A combined total of 1-14 from Jack Leahy and William Buckley maintained Cork’s U20 winning streak against a Clare side derailed by a 25th-minute red card for midfielder Ronan Keane.
Backed by the wind, the Banner led 0-11 to 0-5 at that juncture, but Ben O’Connor’s Rebels took over with the extra man.
Leahy had been taken off the frees at half-time after three misses but re-emerged with a sensational second-half blitz of 1-4 in the subsequent 10 minutes. He finished with 1-6 while Buckley tallied 0-8, four from play.
At the U17 grade, this Cork team inflicted a 40-point hammering on Clare, 6-28 to 0-6, but the Banner’s fortunes have dramatically risen since then.
They got off to a flier at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh to build up a 0-10 to 0-3 lead by the 15th minute led by Conor Whelan, who finished with 10 points.
The momentum changed with Keane’s red.
A Ross O’Sullivan goal, after Diarmuid Healy’s initial strike was brilliantly saved by Mark Sheedy, plus two huge points from Mikey Finn cut the gap to two, 0-13 to 1-8, by half-time.
Leahy was on fire from there. He created his goal with a terrific turn to sit down his marker and rattle the top corner. They outscored the visitors 1-7 to 0-1 between the 32nd and 40th minutes to move six clear.
The gap was still six with five minutes to play when Clare briefly brought the game back to life. Substitute James Organ grabbed the sliotar out of the night sky and rifled to the roof of the net.
Cork’s response was a string of points to put the game out of sight, three from Buckley and another for Eoin O’Leary, who was denied a late goal by Sheedy’s sharp reflexes.
