Senior hurlers defied with last puck of semi-final

 CORK 1-27 DUBLIN 2-23

Seamus Harnedy's point with the last puck of the match saw the Rebels come from 12 points in arrears at one stage to snatch a dramatic victory in Sunday's NHL Division 1 semi-final at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny.

It was a bitter pill for Dublin who had hurled superbly throughout the opening half when they enjoyed wind advantage.

However, they failed to turn the reduced scoring opportunities into scores in the second half and over the course of the game shot 15 wides compared to just five from Cork.

The deadball accuracy of Patrick Horgan held the key to Cork's revival while the also improved in the aerial exchanges after the Dubs had dominated them in the first half.

Still with nine minutes remaining Dublin led by seven points, 2-22 to 0-21.

Three minutes later Paul O'Sullivan struck for a vital goal for the Rebels and Cork also hit the concluding five points of this riveting battle to progress to the final.

Dublin put in an excellent opening half and led by nine points at the break, 2-15 to 0-12.

Ger Cunningham's men worked heroically all over the park while up front showed great team-work, vision and were clinical in taking their scores.

Mark Schutte hit the first goal in the second minute when he turned sharply and drove to the net following a good delivery from Liam Rushe.

Points from Conal Keaney and David O'Callaghan added to Dublin's momentum and their maintained their high intensity throughout the half.

A trio of scores from John McCaffrey, a score that summarised the Dubs first half showing that was initiated by the alertness of goalkeeper Gary Maguire, David Treacy and a 80-metre Paul Ryan free gave their side a 1-5 to 0-2 lead by the tenth minute.

Between the 11th and 19th minute Dublin scored 1-4 without reply.

McCaffrey struck his second point of the half, after possession was secured in the air by Rushe, good defence by Keaney and Shane Durkin led to a Treacy point from play, Ryan's free extended the advantage to 1-8 to 0-3 before Treacy pointed and O'Callaghan hit the second goal.

The Ballyboden St Enda's man carved his way through the Cork defence, survived a last-ditch challenge, before spinning around and firing to the corner of Anthony Nash's net for Dublin to move 12 points clear, 2-9 to 0-3.

The freetaking of Patrick Horgan cut the deficit with three frees.

Dublin went close to adding a third goal but Nash first denied Mark Schutte before parrying Treacy's first time pull off the ground with the rebound.

The Rebels themselves threatened on goal but an excellent Peter Kelly interception cut out Horgan's attempted handpass to an unmarked Luke O'Farrell as he loitered with intent outside the parallelogram - for there Dublin swept forward for Ryan to fire over his fourth point of the half (three frees, one from play).

Full-back Kelly's quick reflexes also saved Dublin in the 29th minute when he blocked Seamus Harnedy's goal attempt.

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SCORERS - Cork: P Horgan 0-17 (0-12f, 0-2 ‘65s’), C Lehane 0-4, S Harnedy 0-3, P O’Sullivan 1-0, L O’Farrell, A Cadogan, A Walsh 0-1 each. Dublin: P Ryan 0-7 (0-4f), M Schutte, D O’Callaghan 1-3 each, L Rushe 0-3, C Keaney, J McCaffrey, D Treacy 0-2 each, B Quinn 0-1.

CORK: A Nash; S O’Neill, D Cahalane, W Kearney; L McLoughlin, A Walsh, S McDonnell; D Kearney, R O’Shea; C Lehane, S Harnedy, B Cooper; A Cadogan, L O’Farrell, P Horgan.Subs: P O’Sullivan for Cadogan (51), A Spillane for O’Farrell (63), B Lawton for D Kearney (67).

DUBLIN: G Maguire; C O’Callaghan, P Kelly, P Schutte; S Durkin, C Crummey, C Keaney; J McCaffrey, N McMorrow; R O’Dwyer, L Rushe, P Ryan; D O’Callaghan, M Schutte, D Treacy. Subs: B Quinn for McCaffrey (53), C Cronin for O’Dwyer (62), O O’Rorke for Treacy (67).

REF: J Owens (Wexford).

ATT: 16,445.