All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Round 4A – Cork 0-21 Sligo 1-11

Cork defeated Sligo by 0-21 to 1-11 in Round 4A of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship on Saturday July 26th at O’Connor Park Tullamore.

Match Report: @OfficialCorkGAA set up quarter-final clash with @MayoGAA following 7-point win over @sligogaa: http://t.co/L93d3EWPw2 #gaa

— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 26, 2014

SFC Round 4A: Cork ease past Sligo

GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 4A: Cork 0-21 Sligo 1-11

Report from GAA.ie

Colm O’Neill kicked ten points for Cork as they easily earned an All-Ireland football quarter-final against Mayo next Sunday. Sligo never recovered from the concession of eight points in a row in the first quarter, but managed to pull Brian Cuthbert’s side back to four points after Stephen Coen’s fisted goal in the 51st minute.

But Cuthbert emptied the bench and an impressive cameo from Fintan Goold as well as Paul Kerrigan’s five-point haul saw Cork into the last eight.
Cork enjoyed wind advantage in the opening half as they tried to bounce back from their disappointing loss to old rivals Kerry in the Munster final. Manager Cuthbert, who had made a string of stages from the Munster final loss, lined out with just four forwards up front and pulled players back behind the ball and just crowded Sligo.

Sligo struggled to combat the tactic when they were playing against the wind with Cork going with a two-man full-forward line of Colm O’Neill and Donal Óg Hodnett, with Brian Hurley and Paul Kerrigan in the half-forward line. Cork’s tactic worked and having conceded 0-24 in the Munster final, their defence was much more tight this time round and Sligo found it difficult to get scores.

Sligo did make a bright start when Mark Breheny opened the scoring after three minutes but Cork’s dominance started to become apparent. And once Cork got an edge they quickly turned the screw and hit eights points in succession as they made great use of the extra space up front. But Cork soon gained a stranglehold on the game and eight points on the spin, quenched all of Sligo’s hopes.

O’Neill got the Rebels off the marking and Kerrigan, who was also outstanding for Cork, edged them in front after seven minutes. Two minutes later, Hodnett made the most of a great delivery from Hurley to find the target. Despite the best efforts of Charlie Harrison and Brian Curran on the front foot, the Cork dominance continued and after frees from Hurley and O’Neill, midfielder Ian Maguire capped his senior championship debut with Cork’s sixth point. Kerrigan then landed two in succession to open up an 0-8 to 0-1 lead after 24 minutes.

Sligo badly needed scores but Adrian Marren missed a free before he then hit the target. However, the Rebels finished the half strongly and a fisted effort and then a 45 from O’Neill left them 0-10 to 0-2 in front at the interval. Sligo made a positive start to the second-half with frees from Marren and Mark Breheny giving them hope.

And their prospects of a comeback gain momentum when Stephen Coen reduced the margin to five with a fisted goal after 51 minutes. But Cork regrouped and took control and points from O’Neill, Kerrigan and dual star Aidan Walsh saw them home to set up a clash with Mayo at Croke Park as Pat Flanagan’s first season in charge of Sligo came to an end.
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Scorers for Cork: C O’Neill 0-10 (3f, 1 ’45), P Kerrigan 0-5, A Walsh 0-2 (1f), I Maguire 0-1, B Hurley 0-1 (f), D Og Hodnett 0-1, D Cahalane 0-1.

Scorers for Sligo: A Marren 0-6 (1f), S Coen 1-1, M Breheny 0-3 (2f), C Harrison 0-1

CORK: K O’Halloran; J Loughrey, E Cadagon, N Galvin; M Shields, T Clancy, B O’Driscoll; I Maguire, A Walsh; P Kerrigan, M Collins, C O’Driscoll; C O’Neill, B Hurley, D Óg Hodnett
Subs: F Goold for Maguire (46 mins), D Cahalane for Clancy (51 mins), D Goulding for Hodnett (57 mins), J O’Rourke for O’Driscoll (61 mins), T Clancy for B O’Driscoll (66 mins), J Dineen for Walsh (69 mins).

SLIGO: A Devaney; K Cawley, R Donovan, N Ewing; C Harrison, B Egan, B Curran; A McIntyre, K McDonnell; P Hughes, M Breheny, J Kilcullen; S Coen, A Marren, D Kelly
Subs: J Hynes for Kelly (42 mins), S McManus for Kilcullen (64 mins), E McHugh for Curran (70 mins), C Griffin for Coen (70 mins).

Referee: David Gough (Meath).

Preview: All-Ireland SFC Qualifier Round 4A, @OfficialCorkGAA v @sligogaa, O'Connor Park, Tullamore, Saturday, 5pm – http://t.co/2SsVPsiUhv

— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 25, 2014

Team News

Cork Senior Football Team to Play Sligo on Saturday http://t.co/7jpPO60LJH

— Cork GAA (@OfficialCorkGAA) July 22, 2014

Brian Cuthbert and his selectors have made six changes since the defeat to Kerry. Brothers Brian and Colm O’Driscoll, Ian Maguire, Mark Collins, Colm O’Neill and Donal Óg Hodnett all come into the team, with Damien Cahalane, Fintan Goold, Patrick Kelly, Daniel Goulding, Barry O’Driscoll and John O’Rourke on the bench.

The Cork Senior Football team to play Sligo at 5pm on Saturday in Tullamore is as follows:

1. Ken O’Halloran (Bishopstown)
2. James Loughrey (Mallow)
3. Eoin Cadogan (Douglas)
4. Noel Galvin (Ballincollig)
5. Michael Shields (St. Finbarr’s – Captain)
6. Thomas Clancy (Clonakilty)
7. Brian O’Driscoll (Tadhg MacCárthaigh)
8. Ian Maguire (St. Finbarr’s)
9. Aidan Walsh (Kanturk)
10. Paul Kerrigan (Nemo Rangers)
11. Mark Collins (Castlehaven)
12. Colm O’Driscoll (Tadhg MacCárthaigh)
13. Colm O’Neill (Ballyclough)
14. Brian Hurley (Castlehaven)
15. Donal Óg Hodnett (O’Donovan Rossa)

Subs
16. David Hanrahan (Douglas)
17. Damien Cahalane (Castlehaven)
18. Jamie O’Sullivan (Bishopstown)
19. Tomás Clancy (Fermoy)
20. Fintan Goold (Macroom)
21. Patrick Kelly (Ballincollig)
22. Daniel Goulding (Éire Óg)
23. Andrew O’Sullivan (Castletownbere)
24. Barry O’Driscoll (Nemo Rangers)
25. John O’Rourke (Carbery Rangers)
26. Sean Dineen (Castlehaven)

SLIGO (SFC v Cork): A Devaney; R Donovan, J Martyn, N Ewing; C Harrison, B Egan, K Cawley; K McDonnell, A McIntyre; B Curran, J Hynes, P Hughes; M Breheny, A Marren, D Kelly