All-Ireland SHC semi-final
Clare 3-29 Cork 1-34 (after extra-time)
CORK’S All-Ireland senior hurling famine will now stretch to 20 years – but if the grace with which their manager Pat Ryan accepted this incredibly narrow defeat means anything then they’ll win it next season.
The Rebels had cause for complaint on a few occasions, notably at the very end when Robbie O’Flynn was fouled as he sent off a shot. No one – not Clare, not the watching audience in Croke Park and worldwide – would have argued much if Cork had secured a replay, but the sliotar went wide and Clare were champions.
Asked if he felt his side should have had a free, Ryan replied: “Somebody said that to me – to be honest, I didn’t see it. We can’t do anything about it now. We just have to move on and see where we go…
“Obviously, we’re very disappointed. We came up here to win today and we didn’t get over the line. All credit to Clare – they performed fantastically and probably just about deserved their victory in the end.”
Cork started superbly and were seven points up, 1-7 to 0-3, inside 12 minutes when centre half-back Robert Downey barnstormed forward to crack in the game’s opening goal.
However, it was only Clare who shook the net after that, through Aidan McCarthy, Mark Rodgers, and then a superb solo effort from skipper Tony Kelly.
Ryan pointed to Cork’s failure to find the net again as the key difference between winning and losing this enthralling encounter:
“We probably didn’t take enough goal chances that we created. We probably had another four or five goal chances except for the one that we did take and we needed to take them. That was probably where the game lay.”
The Cork manager suggested that any consolation they might take from this devastating defeat might lay in the pride the players showed in the famous red jersey:
“Our job was to represent the county, represent the jersey, represent the people who came up here, paying hard money to come up to Dublin and I think the lads did that.
“The lads can be very proud of how they performed, but, at the same time, we came up here to win and we didn’t.
“We’ll lick our wounds and congratulate Clare. They’ll have a great couple of days and we’ll have a sad couple of days and fellas will go back to their clubs. We’ll re-group and see where that takes us.”
Cork corner-forward Patrick Horgan’s tally of 0-13 took him to the top of the all-time scoring list, but Ryan insisted that meant nothing to the Glen Rovers clubman:
“Patrick doesn’t need any plaudits like that. That’s the way he expects to play himself… I know people don’t believe it, but he doesn’t actually read into the top of the scoring charts at all. He just chases the whole fact of being able to play hurling with Cork. That is his main aim all the time and Patrick will be back next year ready to go.”
As will Cork, hoping that luck and refereeing decisions go their way…