Dublin erased the pain of defeat to Donegal in the previous round with a well merited 1-13 to 0-07 victory over Cork in their Allianz NFL Division 1A clash at Parnell Park last night.
The home side made a flying start to the game and led by six points to no-score midway through the half, and although Jason Sherlock went off injured for Dubs late in the opening half, they continued to hold a six points lead at half-time as Cork found scores from James Masters and Anthony Lynch.
A Donnacha O’Connor penalty miss compounded Cork’s woes and this was made even worse as Conal Keaney netted a goal as Dublin held out for victory.
Cork were certainly a shocked team after this game and Billy Morgan’s charges had every right to be as they came into the match with a good victory over Tyrone under their belts.
This, coupled with Dublin’s loss to Donegal in the previous round, may have pointed to a Cork victory but Paul Caffrey’s charges had other ideas.
His team burst out of the blocks in the opening quarter and quickly raced into a 0-6 to 0-0 lead as Cork were left spellbound.
Former duel player Conal Keaney kicked three of those points as Dublin settled quickly.
A 26th minute point from James Masters saw Cork open their account while Anthony Lynch had the assistance of a fisted ball from Stephen Cluxton; to ensure his shot went over the bar for Cork’s second point.
Cork’s woes continued on the restart with Donnacha O’Connor failed to convert from the penalty spot as Dublin continued to remain impressive in the second half.
Keaney finished with a personal tally of 1-4 while Tomas Quinn was also on song with five points.
Dublin had done all of the groundwork in the first half of this game as they left the Rebels stunned during what was certainly an interesting evening for teams wearing red in Division 1A.
