Minor hurlers edged out by Rebels in semi-final

CORK 0-23 DUBLIN 2-13

Dublin minor hurlers dream of reaching an All-Ireland decider were extinguished when losing Sunday’s semi-final against the Rebels at Croke Park.

The Dubs played with a numerical advantage for the closing quarter after the dismissal of Robert Downey (second yellow) but couldn’t translate that fully on the scoreboard.

Dublin did hit a late goal when Mark Grogan flicked a long aerial delivery to the net to reduce the deficit to just three points but unfortunately that was as good as it got.

Fintan Clandillon’s men also finished the opening half on the up with Eoghan O’Neill kicked the sliotar to the net as the Dubs laid siege to the Cork goal to trail 1-4 to 0-11 at the break.

However, the deadball accuracy of Brian Turnbull (0-13, 11f) and Daire Connery (0-6, 3f) had Cork on the front foot for sustained periods as they progressed to the All-Ireland decider against Galway.

Understandably both counties showed signs of nerves in the opening half and Dublin let a couple of decent chances slip as they battled to establish a strong foothold in the contest.

Cork raced into an 0-7 to 0-2 lead inside the opening quarter, as Connery and Turnbull found their range.

Dublin did have their chances but Cork keeper Ger Collins was alert throughout and he saved smartly to deny Ben Coffey in the 22^nd minute.

But just before the break Dublin struck back with Eoghan O’Neill’s goal when he opted to go with the boot from close range.

The Dubs needed to restart on top but it was Cork who began to put distance between the sides as four frees from Turnbull had the Rebels 0-17 to 1-6 ahead with 20 minutes remaining.

Dublin did have a golden opportunity two minutes into the second half but Conor O’Donoghue fired a penalty wide following a foul on Diarmuid Ó Floinn

Dublin battled to the finish with Currie and Liam Murphy converting five frees between them while goal-scorer O’Neill also added a point.

However, Mark Grogan’s late goal arrived too late for Dublin to stage any dramatic victory.

SCORERS  – Cork: B Turnbull 0-13 (0-11f), D Connery 0-6 (0-3f), B Roche 0-2, G Millerick, B Buckley 0-1 each. Dublin: S Currie 0-5 (0-2f), L Murphy 0-4 (0-3f), E O’Neill, M Grogan 1-1 each, D Keogh (0-1f), E Allen 0-1 each.
CORK: G Collins; E Roche, S O’Leary Hayes, C O’Callaghan; G Millerick, J Keating, A Walsh Barry; D Connery, B Roche; B Buckley, C Hanafin, D Linehan; L O’Shea, R Downey, B Turnbull. Subs: J Geary for Hanafin (48), D Hanlon for Buckley (49), C O’Brien for B Roche (60).
DUBLIN: C O’Donoghue; K Burke, B McHugh, A Dunphy; E O’Donnell, L Walsh, L Gannon; D Keogh, B Coffey; D Ó Floinn, M Grogan, E O’Neill; L Murphy, S Currie, L McDwyer. Subs: S Kennedy for McDwyer (ht), E Allen for Coffey (52),  C Derwin for Ó Floinn (52), T Aherne for O’Donnell (62).
REF: M Murtagh (Westmeath).