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Electric Ireland MHC Final: Classy Cork triumph

Cork defeated Galway in the Electric Ireland Minor Hurling Championship decider at Semple Stadium.

Cork defeated Galway in the Electric Ireland Minor Hurling Championship decider at Semple Stadium.

Electric Ireland Minor Hurling Championship Final

CORK 1-23 GALWAY 0-12

By John Fallon at Semple Stadium

Cork captured their first Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor hurling title in 20 year and in the process kept their hopes of a treble very much alive after this impressive victory over reigning champions Galway in Thurles.

Galway, who won a record four-in-a-row just last month, were chasing the game from early on and just were not able to match Cork’s powerful running and scoring threat from all over the field.

Cork were well on their way to their 19th All-Ireland minor crown when they led by nine points at the break and then struck for the only goal of an entertaining match shortly after the restart.

Cork, having opted to play with the breeze, led by 0-9 to 0-4 at the first water break with both midfielders Mikey Finn and Cillian Tobin scoring along with four of the six forwards.

Galway kept in touch with a couple of frees from Rory Burke and good efforts from play from Michéal Power and wing-back Dylan Dunne.

William Buckley got his second point of the match on the resumption and corner-back Darragh O’Sullivan also scored his second point of the match to extend their lead to 0-11 to 0-4 after 18 minutes.

They pushed that lead out to 0-16 to 0-7 by the interval with nine different players hitting the target for the Rebels as they made the most of their excellent use of the ball and strong running.

Jack Leahy extended Cork’s lead with a point within a minute of the restart and then Eoin O’Leary set up David Cremin and he finished low to the net to make it 1-17 to 0-7.

Two more points from Burke and one from Darren Shaughnessy reduced the deficit but Cork led by 1-19 to 0-10 at the second water.

Leahy tacked on another couple of points and Buckley added another as Healy picked off his fourth of the night, while Power responded with a couple of points for a Galway side who relinquished their crown just 42 days since they won it but they were beaten in too many positions to mount a serious defence of their crown against a Cork side who won all four matches this season by double digits.

Scorers for Cork: Jack Leahy 0-7 (3f), David Cremin 1-2, Diarmuid Healy 0-4, William Buckley 0-3, Mikey Finn 0-2 (1 sideline) Darragh O’Sullivan 0-2, Eoin O’Leary 0-1, Ben O’Connor 0-1, Cillian Tobin 0-1.

Scorers for Galway: Rory Burke 0-5 (4f), Micheal Power 0-4, Darren Shaughnessy 0-2, Dylan Dunne 0-1.

CORK: Paudie O'Sullivan, Darragh O’Sullivan, Kevin Lyons, James Byrne; James Dwyer, Ben O’Connor, Timmy Wilk; Mikey Finn, Cillian Tobin; Diarmuid Healy, Ben Nyhan, David Cremin; William Buckley, Jack Leahy, Eoin O’Leary.

Subs:Adam Walsh for Nyhan (half-time), Rory Sheahan for Wilk (45-46), for Dwyer (53), Oran O’Regan for Cremin (55), Kyle Wallace for Tobin (58), Tadhg O’Connell for O’Leary (59).

GALWAY: Darragh Walsh; Joshua O’Connor, Tiernán Leen, Matthew Tarpey; Dylan Dunne, Diarmuid Davoren, Nathan Gill; Joshua Ryan, Conor Lawless; Darren Shaughnessy, Michéal Power, Darragh Neary; John Cosgrove, Rory Burke, Oisin Lohan.

Subs: Matthew O’Connor for Ryan (36), Cillian Whelan for Lawless (37), Anthony Keady for Cosgrove (38), Cian Donoghue for Lohan (47), Conor Headd for Dunne (57).

Referee: Colum Cunning (Antrim).