Cork have a decisive early edge in Group 3 after their more impactful bench put the finishing touches on their revenge mission over Clare in front of 3,262 at Cusack Park, Ennis.
Having been knocked out of last year's Munster championship to the Banner at the same venue, John Cleary’s side were a far more well-oiled unit this time around as they controlled matters for the majority and never trailed at any stage.
Indeed, having soared six clear by the end of the opening quarter, thanks in the main to a Sean Powter opportunist goal, Cork seemed set for a surprisingly bloodless victory as their entire first half tally stemmed from play whereas in contrast their hosts could only muster four frees to trail 1-06 to 0-04 at the interval.
It was a much different encounter on the resumption though as Clare rectified that unwanted first half statistic with an early brace of Daniel Walsh points, albeit that they were hugely relieved to survive a glorious goal chance in the 38th minute.
The Rebels turned over possession through Ian Maguire before unleashing Chris Óg Jones to race through and offload to the unmarked Brian O’Driscoll whose flick agonisingly ricocheted off the crossbar.
Within five minutes, Clare had punished that miss with a goal of their own when Manus Doherty’s incisive run picked out Aaron Griffin to drive a low ground shot to the left corner of Christopher Kelly’s net to slash the arrears to just one at 1-07 to 1-06 by the 43rd minute.
Cork resisted through Brian Hurley only to be finally reeled in entering the final quarter when Emmet McMahon and Ciaran Downes converted placed balls to leave it 1-08 to 1-08.
With both sides understandably war-weary by this stage, it was Cork’s superior experience from the bench that managed to ultimately snatch the spoils when needed most as following a fisted Tommy Walsh points, substitutes Steven Sherlock and Mark Cronin kicked a brace of points each to keep their noses in front and kickstart their All-Ireland series in gritty fashion.
They were equally impressive in the opening period when kicking the first three points through Conor Corbett, Colm O’Callaghan and Hurley before adding that emphatic 16th-minute goal that was made by an inch-perfect O’Callaghan delivery over the top for Powter to flick over advancing goalkeeper Stephen Ryan.
A below-par Banner could only rely on three McMahon frees to keep them in touch so while they did mount a stern second half backlash, crucially it did take everything in their armoury just to pull level before Cork’s fresh legs from the bench decided matters.
The Rebels now await Ulster champions Donegal in a fortnight’s time whereas Mark Fitzgerald’s Clare face a tough trip to Tyrone to try and resurrect their All-Ireland hopes.
Cork: Christopher Kelly; Kevin Flahive, Daniel O’Mahony, Tommy Walsh (0-01); Maurice Shanley, Rory Maguire, Matty Taylor; Ian Maguire, Colm O’Callaghan (0-01); Paul Walsh (0-02), Sean Powter (1-00), Brian O’Driscoll; Chris Óg Jones (0-01), Conor Corbett (0-01), Brian Hurley (0-03, 0-01f).
Subs: Mark Cronin (0-02, 0-01f) for Powter (56), Steven Sherlock (0-02, 0-01f) for Jones (59), Ruairi Deane for Corbett (59), Eoghan McSweeney for Hurley (67), John O’Rourke for P. Walsh (74).
Clare: Stephen Ryan; Manus Doherty, Cillian Brennan, Ronan Lanigan; Ikem Ugwueru, Cillian Rouine, Alan Sweeney; Darragh Bohannon, Brian McNamara; Gavin Murray, Dermot Coughlan (0-01), Daniel Walsh (0-02); Emmet McMahon (0-05, 0-05f), Aaron Griffin (1-00), Ciaran Downes (0-02, 0-01f, 0-01’45).
Subs: Micheál Garry for Sweeney (33, inj), Einne O’Connor for Murray (52), Jamie Stack (0-01) for Downes (58), Joe McGann for Griffin (67), Mark McInerney for Rouine (73).
Referee: Sean Lonergan (Tipperary).
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