Galway 2-28 Cork 0-22
Anthony Cunningham’s Galway stormed past Cork at Semple Stadium in the All-Ireland senior hurling quarter-final, hammering the Rebels by 12 points.
Next up for the Tribesmen is a last-four date with Tipperary at Croke Park on 16 August.
A miserable day for Cork was compounded by a knee injury for Cormac Murphy in the second half and Damien Cahalane’s red card.
Cahalane had already been booked in the first half and needlessly careered into Galway sub Joseph Cooney with 19 minutes left.
Referee James Owens was left with no choice but to issue a second yellow, followed by the inevitable red.
Galway could even afford the luxury of 23 wides on a day when Joe Canning had nine of his own.
Taking those misses into account, it could have been so much worse for Cork on a day when they were dominated by a ravenous Galway outfit intent on recovering from their Leinster final defeat to Kilkenny.
They did that in style with eleven different players on the scoresheet, including subs Niall Healy and Cooney, who impressed after coming on.
Cathal Mannion helped himself to seven points from play and 18-year-old debutant Conor Whelan hit 1-2, including a late goal as Galway rubbed salt into Cork wounds.
It was a miserable afternoon for the Rebels and capped a forgettable weekend following the football team’s exit from the All-Ireland series last night.
Galway were four points clear at half-time, 1-15 to 0-14, as Jonathan Glynn’s stunning goal after just 52 seconds helped to separate the sides.
Glynn took off on a mazy run that carried him 50 metres towards the Cork goal and didn’t stop until he had buried a shot past Anthony Nash.
The highlight of Glynn’s run was a flick over the head of Cork sweeper Mark Ellis as he came across to apply pressure and when the ball dropped, the Ardrahan powerhouse applied the finish.
Galway added a point from Jason Flynn before Cork opened their account in the fifth minute through Conor Lehane.
Despite playing with the breeze, there was always a feeling that Cork were hanging on.
Galway found scores that bit easier to come by and while the sweeper had worked to good effect in Cork’s victories over Wexford and Clare, they looked more vulnerable defensively here.
Cathal Mannion picked off five points from play in the first half alone for Galway, drifting around the half-forward line to telling effect.
With Mannion vacating his nominal corner forward position, plenty of space opened up for Galway to exploit and by half-time, all six of their starting forwards and both midfielders had registered scores.
But Galway let themselves down by registering nine first half wides, with Canning responsible for five of those.
There were more to follow in the second half but Galway still kept the scoreboard ticking over with regularity and Whelan’s goal added further gloss to the final scoreboard.
GALWAY: C Callanan; J Coen, J Hanbury, P Mannion; A Harte (0-02), I Tannian, Daithí Burke; A Smith (0-01), David Burke (0-02); C Whelan (1-02), C Donnellan (0-02), J Glynn (1-02); J Flynn (0-03), J Canning (0-05, 2f, 1 65, 1 sl), C Mannion (0-07).
Subs: J Cooney (0-01) for David Burke (half-time), D Collins for Donnellan (57), G Lally for Tannian (60), F Moore for Smith (65), N Healy (0-01) for Glynn (67).
CORK: A Nash; S O’Neill, B Murphy, S McDonnell; A Walsh (0-01), M Ellis, C Murphy (0-01); D Cahalane, D Kearney (0-02); B Lawton (0-01), P Cronin, B Cooper; C Lehane (0-03), S Harnedy (0-03), P Horgan (0-09, 7f, 1 65)).
Subs: J Coughlan for Cronin (half-time), L McLoughlin for Murphy (inj, 44), A Cadogan (0-01) for Lawton (47), P O’Sullivan (0-01) for Cooper (56).
Referee: J Owens (Wexford)
