SEÁN POWTER’S goal during an unanswered first-half spell of 1-3 paved the way for Cork to start the All-Ireland group series with a win.
But, aided by a big say from subs Mark Cronin and Steven Sherlock, John Cleary’s men still had to finish strongly in Ennis to edge the two points after Clare rallied and tied it all up.
Cleary said afterwards: “We held Clare well in the first half and did say at half-time that Clare would have a purple patch. We saw how well they played in the Munster final and last year we suffered a sucker-punch here. Ennis is not an easy place to come for Cork teams.
“A lot of these games are down to the last minutes of action. The impact of Steven Sherlock and Mark Cronin was huge for us. We expect an impact from our subs and it worked.”
The memory of their defeat at the same ground in last year’s Munster SFC must have been in Cork minds as they started well and looked to banish it.
Conor Corbett, Colm O’ Callaghan and Brian Hurley were the point scorers in that first-half Rebels purple patch, with O’Callaghan setting up Powter to palm to Seán Ryan’s net.
Clare managed just four scores in the opening period with three coming from Emmet McMahon frees.
Scores from Chris Óg Jones, Paul Walsh and Hurley left Cork 1-6 to 0-4 ahead at the interval.
Yet the opening ten minutes after the restart saw a huge Clare fightback.
With Cork’s Brian O’Driscoll hitting the bar when the net was easier to find, he was punished as Aaron Griffin finished well for a green flag at the other end and Daniel Walsh split the posts.
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The Clare resurgence continued and they were level by the 55th minute with McMahon and Ciarán Downes on target.
Paul Walsh, Hurley and Tommy Walsh guided the men in red back into a two-point lead entering the final five minutes of normal time.
Cronin and Sherlock helped them go three up before a late speculative effort from Clare’s Dermot Coughlan was punched over the bar by Chris Kelly.
CORK: C Kelly; K Flahive, D O’Mahony, M Shanley; R Maguire, T Walsh 0-1, M Taylor; I Maguire, C O’Callaghan 0-1; P Walsh 0-2, S Powter 1-0, B O’Driscoll; C Óg Jones 0-1, C Corbett 0-1, B Hurley 0-3. Subs: M Cronin 0-2 for Powter 57mins; S Sherlock 0-2 for Jones 59; R Deane for Corbett 59; E McSweeney for Hurley 67; J O’Rourke for P Walsh 73.
CLARE: S Ryan; M Doherty, C Brennan, R Lanigan; A Sweeney, C Rouine, I Ugweru; D Bohannon, B McNamara; D Walsh 0-2, D Coughlan 0-1, G Murray; E McMahon 0-5f, A Griffin 1-0, Ciarán Downes 0-2, 1f, 1’45. Subs: M Garry for Sweeney 32mins; E O’Connor for Murray 52; J Stack 0-1 for Downes 58; J McGann for Griffin 70; M McInerney for Rouine 70.
REFEREE: S Lonergan (Tipperary).
