How’re we getting on?
Let’s hope the pitch at Páirc Uí Rinn holds up this evening as Cork welcome Clare to the ground mere hours after Midleton CBS beat Christians in an all-Cork Harty Cup final — and that was after Rochestown College won the Tom Collum Cup on the same turf.
Cork are stuck in the mud at the bottom of Division 1A and will aim to ignite their league campaign against The Banner, who are favoured ever so slightly by the bookies.
The Rebels are yet to find the net in their two league defeats thus far.
Clare climbed above this evening’s hosts with a win over Kilkenny last time out, and could join Limerick atop Division 1A ahead of tomorrow’s fixtures (Kilkenny v Limerick, Wexford v Tipp, both 2pm) with a win on Leeside.
Throw-in is at 7:15pm.
We’ll catch you shortly with team news and more.
Who do you all fancy this evening?
Poll Results:
And here’s steward Dan Cronin enjoying the match program.
There were 7,089 people at the Harty Cup final at Páirc Uí Rinn this afternoon. No doubt a few of them have been hiding in the jacks since, evading our man Dan until throw-in.
Amhrán na bhFiann wraps up, and we’re underway on Leeside!
1 – Clare 0-2 Cork 0-0: John Conlon swings one over his left shoulder and opens the scoring for the visitors. Lovely score after a long sideline cut by Peter Duggan.
Seconds later, Diarmuid Ryan drives up the field and doubles Clare’s lead with a huge score.
3 – Clare 0-2 Cork 0-0: Anthony Nash can’t avail of a foul on Tim O’Mahony, fires a free wide-right. Bit of a waste, that, from the Kanturk man.
3 – Clare 0-2 Cork 0-1: Exceptional speed by Jamie Coughlan who explodes through Clare’s defensive cover but the ball trickles wide! He was clipped, however, and Pa Horgan avails of an easy free after the game is brought back.
10 – Cork 0-2 Clare 0-2: Extremely physical, scrappy stuff over the last few minutes. Cork win a free-in, eventually, on 10 minutes, and Horgan levels proceedings.
11 – Cork 0-2 Clare 0-2: Clare win a free-in as Peter Duggan is challenged by two or three suitors. Looked fierce soft, that one.
Duggan himself drives it well wide, weirdly. Bad miss with what was a straightforward enough free.
14 – Cork 0-2 Clare 0-2: Horgan puts a free from the sideline wide left. Second wide for the hosts. Clare have three.
Game yet to settle, really. Youghal man Bill Cooper doing his best to bring a bit of composure to Cork’s approach play, but Clare have other ideas. Ian Galvin blocks a Cormac Murphy clearance over the sideline.
Typically of the game so far, Seán O’Donoghue’s sideline cut goes straight over the sideline.
15 – Clare 0-3 Cork 0-2: Duggan feeds Tony Kelly who tears down the left and flicks over a lovely score from close range. Thanks be to God for that.
16 – Clare 0-4 Cork 0-3: Ian Galvin fires one over from just inside the Cork 65. Fine score to double The Banner’s lead.
17 – Clare 0-5 Cork 0-3: Another Clare point, this time from John Conlon who bissects the sticks.
Horgan pulls Cork back to within two with his third tap-over, this one from play.
21 – Clare 0-6 Cork 0-3: Long-time team-mates Colm Galvin and Tony Kelly combine wonderfully and Kelly fires over from an acute angle. Super score.
22 – Cork 1-3 Clare 0-6: GOAL! A long puck in towards the square by Cork captain Seamus Harnedy sneaks past Keith Hogan and triggers the green flag! A massive stroke of fortune for Cork!
24 – Clare 0-8 Cork 1-3: A Duggan free and a point from play by Diarmuid Ryan put Clare back in front by two.
This was Cork’s first goal of the 2019 league campaign!
Seamus Harnedy finds the net from distance for @OfficialCorkGAA pic.twitter.com/WcCnjMSX7J
— The GAA (@officialgaa) February 16, 2019
26 – Clare 0-8 Cork 1-4: Excellent conversion by Horgan and the Rebels narrow the margin to one.
28 – Clare 0-9 Cork 1-4: Conlon pops one over after a shanked ball into him by David Fitzgerald. Some nice build-up play by Clare in the lead-up as they zig-zagged out from their own third.
Clare 0-9 Cork 1-4: Ian Galvin is borderline clothes-lined although unintentionally, and Duggan misses his second free as he flashes one across the face of the goal and wide from the left-hand sideline.
32 – Clare 0-9 Cork 1-5: Coughlan dribbles one into Pa Horgan and he scores on the swivel off his left. Nice finish.
34 – Cork 1-6 Clare 0-9: A marvellous piece of skill by Conor Lehane — he flicks the sliotar up sumptuously — leads to a Cork free from way out. Horgan grabs his sixth point, a fifth from the floor, by driving it low and over the bar. Excellent free.
Former All-Black and Munster star Dougie Howlett is an interested observer at Páirc Uí Rinn.
It’s not been much of a spectacle, this one, but it’s at least evenly poised. Clare will be wondering how they’re not at least three points up, but Harnedy’s freak goal has given Cork parity at the turnaround. Catch you all again in a few.
Watch the GAANOW Half-Time Highlights of Cork v Clare in the Allianz Leagues pic.twitter.com/paEH1NSh6R
— The GAA (@officialgaa) February 16, 2019
The Game director Colm O’Callaghan has hit the nail on the head here…
Nearly ready for the second half. Only one point from play for Cork in that first half, to add to a fairly mawky goal. That point from play came in the 33rd minute.
Cork were back on the pitch well ahead of throw-in for the second stanza.
Away we go again!
37 – Cork 1-6 Clare 0-9: Poor wide by Podge Collins, albeit from a tight angle on the left. Probably should have kept going but well marshalled in the end.
Horgan wins a free up the other end.
37 – Cork 1-7 Clare 0-9: The Rebels take the lead through another simple Horgan free. Only Horgan (0-7) and Harnedy (1-0) have scored for Cork so far today.
38 – Clare 0-10 Cork 1-7: David Fitzgerald breaks up a nice Cork move and Tony Kelly collects the sliotar before firing over his third point from away out the right-hand side. Great score.
Inspirational point by Tony Kelly for @GaaClare pic.twitter.com/2loklqlMc9
— The GAA (@officialgaa) February 16, 2019
39 – Cork 1-8 Clare 0-10: Another Horgan free. His eighth score.
40 – Cork 1-9 Clare 0-11: Coughlan gives Cork the lead once more after Kelly scores his fourth. Things heating up a small bit.
43 – Cork 1-9 Clare 0-11: Kelly feeds Conlon who twists and turns before feeding Diarmuid Ryan. He goes for goal but he’s hooked, and Cork escape.
43 – Clare 0-12 Cork 1-9: Ian Galvin draws Clare level from close range.
45 – Clare 0-12 Cork 1-9: Duggan misses another bad free. A real off day for him from the floor. To be fair, it was a nonsensical free as a Cork player — I missed who it was, in truth — was penalised for throwing the ball despite there being a clear passing motion there.
46 – Clare 0-13 Cork 1-9: Duggan makes no mistake this time and bags his second point of the game with a simple free.
46 – Cork 1-10 Clare 0-13: Lovely score from Daniel Kearney who drops one over from the left-hand sideline to level the game again.
48 – Clare 0-14 Cork 1-10: Duggan grabs a third. Free again.
49 – Clare 0-15 Cork 1-11: OHHH, WHAT A BLOCK by Rory Hayes! Wonderful move by Cork and Conor Lehane must have expected the green flag as he burst through on Hogan’s goal. Hayes flung himself in front of Lehane’s shot and took the sting out of it. After a bit of a scramble, Harnedy puts it over.
Rory Hayes with a courageous block for @GaaClare to deny a goal for @OfficialCorkGAA pic.twitter.com/c1I26t1p0V
— The GAA (@officialgaa) February 16, 2019
Ian Galvin finds the target again up the other end, his third.
52 – Cork 1-12 Clare 0-15:Horgan converts his eighth free. His ninth point. Conor Lehane fouled and might have been allowed to continue with the advantage. Whistle a bit premature and Seamus Harnedy makes that point known.
53 – Clare 0-16 Cork 1-12: Tony Kelly scores again. He’s having a stormer.
54 – Cork 1-13 Clare 0-16: High challenge on Harnedy is rightly penalised and Horgan levels things once more with his 10th point of the game.
56 – Clare 0-17 Cork 1-13: David Griffin is dispossessed easily in midfield and the Galvin brothers combine to some effect for Clare. Ian grabs his fourth of the evening. The Banner lead.
57 – Clare 0-18 Cork 1-14: Horgan levels it with another free after Kearney is man-handled, but Clare win a 65′ and Duggan converts from the right-hand side.
60 – Clare 0-18 Cork 1-14: Alan Cadogan is on for Cork after coaching Rochestown College to the Tom Collum Cup at this same ground earlier today. He’ll need better supply into him than Jamie Coughlan if he’s going to make an impact.
61 – Clare 0-19 Cork 1-15: Ah, that’s a wonderful score by John Conlon who fires one over his left shoulder from some 50 yards, and over the bar.
62 – Cork 1-16 Clare 0-19: Patrick Horgan gets his 12th score, and an 11th from frees. They’re level again.
65 – Cork 1-17 Clare 0-19: Both sides exchange wides, but Alan Cadogan was fouled as he shot. Free-in to Cork and Horgan does the rest. Rebels one up.
67 – Cork 1-17 Clare 0-19: Kearney is hauled down from behind near halfway. Horgan walking out to have a go. Let’s see if he can give Cork a two-point cushion.
67 – Cork 1-18 Clare 0-19: Of course he can! 80-odd yards, not a bother. A 14th point for ‘Hoggy’.
68 – Cork 1-18 Clare 0-20: Tony Kelly gets his sixth to pull Clare back to within a single point.
69 – Cork 1-18 Clare 0-20: Just as though it seemed Peter Duggan was about to level for Clare, Bill Cooper makes an outstanding block before getting bowled over in the process. Cooper wins the free out. Superb play.
70 – Cork 1-19 Clare 0-20: Oh, take a bow, Tim O’Mahony! He drills one over from 70 yards on the left-hand side. Cork lead by two!
72 – Cork 1-20 Clare 0-20: O’Mahony is fouled near midfield and Horgan lands a monster free to stretch Cork’s lead to three! How have they pulled this one out of the bag?!
The final whistle sounds, and a much-improved second-half performance by the Rebels has gotten them up and running in the league.
Patrick Horgan with 16 points, 15 of them frees. An absolute marksman today and always. Clare will wonder how this one got away from them — they were by far the better team in the first half.
Ultimately, the game was decided by a fluke goal by Seamus Harnedy, but John Meyler and Cork will take the win all day long. Probably out-fought Clare in the last third and did enough to bag the two points, all told.
And so there you have it. Cork climb off the bottom where they’ve been replaced by this evening’s opponents.
Clare’s Tony Kelly, on the losing side today, is named man of the match after an impressive six-point haul.
Thanks, everyone, for joining us this evening. Keep an eye out for Fintan O’Toole’s match report and further reaction on The42 tonight.
