Senior hurlers outclassed by Rebels

Sun, 8th March 2015

CORK 0-34 DUBLIN 1-20

Dublin's winning streak in Division 1A came to a shuddering halt as an impressive Cork outclassed the Dubs in Saturday night's clash at Croke Park.

The early signs were ominous from a Dublin perspective as Cork were more alert and assured as they outpaced Dublin to breaking ball as well as moving the sliotar with great fluency and Jimmy Barry Murphy's men were 0-4 to 0-1 to the good inside eight minutes.

In the tenth minute David Treacy had a goal opportunity but his low drive was smothered by Cork keeper Anthony Nash.

The one-way traffic continued with Cork continuing to hold the upperhand in most sectors of the park as Dublin struggled to match the heights of their displays against Tipperary and Kilkenny.

Dublin's midfielders, Shane Durkin and Niall McMorrow, both chipped in with a brace of points each from play in the opening half but it was the visitors who dictated the tempo of the game and by the interval they were 0-21 to 0-8 to the good.

In the second half Dublin did raise their game with Paul Ryan and the hard-working Danny Sutcliffe striking some excellent scores while around the middle sector the Dubs improved but the likes of Seamus Harnedy and corner-forward Patrick Horgan still had the accuracy to keep the scoreboard ticking over for the Rebels.

The frustration of Dublin's night was by Cormac Murphy's 56th minute point for Cork when Daniel Kearney's sideline did not appear to be touched by any other player before the midfield controlled the ball again to set up his wing-back for a score.

The only goal of the night arrived in the 69th minute when Liam Rushe batted the sliotar to the net.

Dublin travel to Ennis next weekend to face Clare on Saturday afternoon.

SCORERS - Cork: P Horgan 0-14 (0-9f, 0-1 '65'), S Harnedy 0-5, R O'Shea, L O'Farrell 0-4 each, L McLoughlin, C Lehane, D Kearney, A Cadogan, M Ellis, C Murphy, B Lawton 0-1 each. Dublin: P Ryan 0-9 (0-7f); D Treacy 0-3 (0-1f), L Rushe 1-0; S Durkin, N McMorrow, D Sutcliffe 0-2; C Cronin, D O'Callaghan 0-1 each.

CORK: A Nash; S O'Neill, C Joyce, C O'Sullivan; L McLoughlin, M Ellis, C Murphy; D Kearney, A Walsh; C Lehane, S Harnedy, R O'Shea; A Cadogan, L O'Farrell, P Horan. Subs: B Lawton for Walsh (52 mins), S Moylan for Cadogan (57), A Spillane for O'Farrell (60), A Walsh for O'Shea (65);

DUBLIN: A Nolan; C O'Callaghan, M Carton, P Schutte; C Crummey, P Kelly, C Keaney; S Durkin, N McMorrow; R O'Dwyer, E Dillon, D Sutcliffe; D Treacy, L Rushe, M Schutte. Subs: P Ryan for Schutte (31 mins), B Quinn for Keaney (ht), C Cronin for O'Dwyer (ht), D O'Callaghan for Dillon (58), C Boland for McMorrow (63).

REF: A Kelly (Galway).

ATTENDANCE: 27,469.