CORK 1-37 KILKENNY 1-32 (AET)
Cork showed their steely side to shrug off the concession of a last-gasp goal to see Kilkenny off after extra-time in today’s thrilling All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park.
Adrian Mullen lashed to the net in the 74th minute with almost the last puck of normal time to tie up the scores and keep the game alive.
When Mark Coleman caught the high ball, referee Fergal Horgan might have blown, but he didn’t.
All Cork had to do was put the ball dead but Kilkenny robbed Tim O’Mahony as he ran out and Padraig Walsh was cool as ice to flick the ball inside to Adrian Mullen who lashed it to the net.
O’Mahony continued to drive his side forward in extra-time, and a Jack O’Connor goal, a stunning finish to the bottom corner at the end of the first period gave Cork the daylight they needed.
It had to be a great shot from O’Connor to beat Eoin Murphy, who was superb in the Kilkenny goals all day.
From there Cork drove for home with the relentless O’Connor scoring again and setting up another to take the Rebel lead out to six points.
This win secured a first All-Ireland final date for Cork since 2013, when they lost after a replay to Clare, and was a first Croke Park Championship win over Kilkenny since 2004.
Cork boss Kieran Kingston will be delighted at the manner of the triumph, given Kilkenny had already seen off Wexford after extra-time at Croke Park in this year’s Championship.
But Kingson will be concerned over injuries to Robbie O’Flynn, Conor Cahalane and Ger Mellerick, who have just two weeks to get ready for Limerick in the All-Ireland final.
Kilkenny could have been out of sight at half-time almost, but for eight wides, three of them from Richie Reid and two from John Donnelly.
Cork were over reliant on Patrick Horgan before the break.
The Glen Rovers man hit 10 of their 14 first half points, with four coming from play in his epic dual with Kilkenny full back Huw Lawlor.
Outside of Horgan, Robbie O’Flynn was carrying the Cork attack.
That was, until the cavalry arrived off the bench, in the shape of seven point Shane Kingston, who tore Kilkenny asunder with his frightening pace.
Suddenly the Cork attack sprung to life with Jack O’Connor roaring into the game, and another sub, Alan Cadogan prominent.
But for a great save by Eoin Murphy from Jack O’Connor, the Rebels might have been well clear.
Huw Lawlor applied savage pressure to Alan Cadogan to foil Cork again as they scored six points without reply at one point to lead by 0-28 to 0-22 on 63 minutes.
But Kilkennny don’t do panic and a couple of TJ Reid placed balls got them up and running again to set up a grandstand finish and Mullen’s goal.
Other standouts were the second half and extra-time displays of Cork full back Robert Downey who had been in bother on Billy Ryan in the first half, but went on to have a tremendous game.
Mark Coleman’s distribution also stood out, while Sean O’Donoghue at corner back and O’Mahony on the wing had huge games for Cork in the face of incessant Kilkenny pressure.
CORK: P Collins, N O’Leary (0-1), R Downey, S O’Donoghue, G Mellerick, M Coleman (0-1), T O’Mahony, D Fitzgibbon (0-1), C Cahalane, L Meade, R O’Flynn (0-2), S Harnedy (0-2), S Barrett (0-1), P Horgan (0-15, 9fs), J O’Connor (1-3).
SUBS: E Cadogan for Mellerick (inj) 36mins, S Kingston (0-7) for Fitzgibbon 42mins, A Cadogan (0-3) for Barrett 47mins, D Cahalane for O’Flynn (inj) 68mins, A Connolly for C Cahalane (inj) 71mins, S O’Leary-Hayes for Coleman 80mins, D Fitzgibbon for Meade 84mins, D Dalton (0-1) for O’Connor 86mins,
KILKENNY: E Murphy, T Walsh, H Lawlor, P Deegan, J Maher (0-1), P Walsh (0-1), M Carey (0-1), C Fogarty (0-1), R Reid (0-1), A Mullen (1-3), J Donnelly, TJ Reid (0-13, 9fs, 3 65s), E Cody (0-4), B Ryan (0-5), A Murphy (0-1).
SUBS: M Keoghan for Donnelly ht, C Buckley for R Reid 51mins, W Walsh for Murphy 52mins, J Bergin for Keoghan 60mins, R Hogan (0-1) for Cody 80mins, J Donnelly for Ryan 80mins.
REFEREE: F Horgan (Tipperary)
