Clare kickstarted their Munster Senior Hurling challenge after a second-half turnaround secured their first ever championship victory in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, beating Cork 3-26 to 3-24.
Trailing by 0-14 to 0-12 at the break, Brian Lohan's side were blitzed by a 1-03 Cork surge on the restart as an immediate Patrick Horgan goal was bolstered by points for Seamus Harnedy, Declan Dalton and a Horgan ’65 after Shane Barrett’s shot was deflected at 1-17 to 0-13 by only the 38th minute.
Things appeared bleak for the Banner, especially after letting slip a nine-point cushion to Limerick last time out. However, they dug deep and were ignited by an excellent passing move involving John Conlon and Shane O’Donnell who centred to Mark Rodgers to find the net in the 43rd minute.
With momentum and the conditons behind them, David Reidy and Aidan McCarthy slashed the arrears to just the minimum on three occasions before the narrative turned decisively at the three-quarters mark.
It stemmed from a Mark Rodgers shot that was initially saved but in the aftermath Sean O’Donoghue’s robust third-man tackle on Shane O’Donnell saw the Inniscarra defender dismissed on a second yellow card while Aidan McCarthy regained full parity with the resultant free at 1-20 apiece.
Four minutes later, a numerically advantaged Clare hit the front in spectacular fashion for the first time in almost 30 minutes when Diarmuid Ryan played an excellent one-two with David Fitzgerald before offloaded to Shane O’Donnell to grab his side’s second goal.
Patrick Horgan kept Cork in touch only to be hit by a third sucker-punch goal entering the final ten minutes when Mark Rodgers teed up David Fitzgerald to cut in from the right and roof to the net at 3-23 to 1-23.
Fourteen-man Cork stubbornly refused to yield though as a foul on Alan Connolly saw Patrick Horgan halve the deficit in emphatic fashion with a bullet 20-metre free to the net in the 66th minute.
Mark Rodgers restored a five-point gap in injury-time but it still would be a far from comfortable finish as a 75th-minute rebound goal from Robert Downey provided a glimmer of hope.
There would even be time for another goal chance for the replacements at either end as first Damien Cahalane’s shot was repelled by the superb Rodgers before an Aron Shanagher goal at the death was ruled out for overcarrying.
Overall, Cork will rue three late first-half goal chances that saw Darragh Fitzgibbon’s shot saved by Eibhear Quilligan, Alan Connolly’s lob come off the top of the crossbar, while Patrick Horgan’s subsequent effort blocked.
The Rebels did grab four of the last five points to edge two clear by the break, but despite a blistering start to the new half, they were unable to sustain that intensity and would be overtaken by a determined Banner who had to do the opposite of their opener reverse to Limerick and bridge a major gap before finally sparking their provincial campaign to life in front of 36,814.
Clare: Eibhear Quilligan; Rory Hayes, Conor Cleary, Adam Hogan; Diarmuid Ryan (0-02), John Conlon, David McInerney (0-01); Cathal Malone, Cian Galvin; David Fitzgerald (1-01), David Reidy (0-03), Peter Duggan (0-02); Mark Rodgers (1-06, 0-01f, 0-01sl), Shane O’Donnell (1-01), Aidan McCarthy (0-010, 0-08f)
Subs: Seadna Morey for Galvin (52), Conor Leen for McInerney (61), Paul Flanagan for Conlon (70), Aron Shanagher for McCarthy (73)
Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Eoin Downey, Sean O’Donoghue; Tim O’Mahony (0-01), Ciaran Joyce (0-01), Robert Downey (1-00); Ethan Twomey, Darragh Fitzgibbon (0-02); Declan Dalton (0-04, 0-03f), Shane Barrett, Seamus Harnedy (0-03); Brian Hayes, Alan Connolly (0-02), Patrick Horgan (2-10, 1-07f, 0-02’65)
Subs: Ger Millerick for O’Mahony (7-8, BS), Mark Coleman for Twomey (49), Robbie O’Flynn for Dalton (50), Luke Meade for Harnedy (54), Shane Kingston (0-01) for Hayes (59), Damien Cahalane for O’Mahony (64, inj)
Referee: James Owens (Wexford)
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