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2021 Eirgrid GAA Football All-Ireland Under 20 Championship Semi-Final – Offaly 3-10 Cork 0-14

July 31, 2021 @ 5:15 pm - 7:00 pm

Offaly defeated Cork by 3-10 to 0-14 in the Eirgrid GAA Football All-Ireland Under 20 Championship Semi-Final on Saturday July 31st at MW Hire O’Moore Park, Portlaoise.

Cork U20 footballers suffer semi-final defeat as Offaly march on after thriller

Report by John Fallon for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Offaly 3-10 Cork 0-14

A poor week for Cork football took another bad turn when a fancied U20 side were sent packing by Offaly in a thrilling All-Ireland U20 semi-final in Portlaoise.

Offaly fully deserved their victory but they had to withstand a fine Cork rally that cut a nine points lead at one stage down to two in a gripping contest.

But just when it seemed the Rebels might be about to snatch it, Offaly broke for man of the match Jack Bryant to shoot his second goal of the match in the dying moments.

Cork manager Keith Ricken said he was proud of their comeback and just lamented that they didn’t complete the job.

“We left ourselves with a bit too much to do but I couldn’t be more proud of the lads for the way they fought back,” he said.

Bryant led the with a haul of 2-4 to set up an All-Ireland final against either Down or Roscommon.

Offaly, aided by the slight breeze, deservedly led by 1-7 to 0-3 at the interval and should have been much further ahead but they failed to convert a couple of good chances and were also denied a penalty.

The sides were level twice in the opening 13 minutes before Cormac Egan edged Offaly in front after the other corner-forward, Aaron Kellaghan, appeared to be fouled as he bore down on goal.

Offaly were full of running from deep and full-back Tom Hyland blazed wide with a goal chance after 19 minutes, while Bryant did likewise moments later after he and Egan had dispossessed Cork corner-back Colm O’Donovan.

The Cork defence struggled to contain Offaly and a sin-binning of wing-back Adam Walsh-Murphy for pulling down Cathal Flynn as he headed for goal.

Offaly outscored Cork by 1-4 to 0-1 while they had the extra man with Byrant shooting home a superb goal into the top right corner four minutes from the break after landing two points just prior to that and they went in leading by seven.

Kellaghan and Bryant extended Offaly’s lead with points inside four minutes of the restart but then Cork came storming back and hit the next five points from David Buckley (two), Colin Walsh, Brian Hayes, and Ciarán O’Sullivan to cut the gap to 1-9 to 0-8 after 44 minutes.

Offaly responded with Bryant setting up Cathal Flynn and the wing-forward shot low to the net.

Cork hit back and landed the next three points before Keith O’Neill responded for Offaly to leave it 2-10 to 0-11 with seven minutes remaining.

Cork piled forward and with the Offaly defence forced to foul, David Buckley tapped over three frees to reduce the margin to two points going into the closing stages but Bryant wrapped it up with his second goal after being set up by Egan to spark huge celebrations.

Scorers for Offaly: J Bryant 2-4 (0-2f), C Flynn 1-0, A Kellaghan 0-2 (0-1 mark), L Pearson, M Tynan (1f), C Egan, K O’Neill 0-1 each.

Scorers for Cork: D Buckley 0-5 (0-4f, 0-1 mark), C O’Sullivan 0-4 (1 45), C Walsh 0-2, M O’Neill (1f), D Dorgan (1f), B Hayes (1 45). 0-1 each

Offaly: S O’Toole; A Brazil, T Hyland, L Pearson; R Egan, J Furlong, F Dempsey; E Cullen, M Tynan; C Flynn, O Keenan Martin, C Donoghue; Cormac Egan, J Bryant, A Kellaghan.
Subs for Offaly: K O’Neill for Kellaghan (8-9 blood), O’Neill for Tynan (46), C Delaney for Kellaghan (52).

Cork: G Creedon; C O’Donovan, D Phelan, C McGoldrick; A Walsh-Murphy, T Walsh, D Cashman; B Hayes, N Hartnett; D Buckley, J Cahalane, C O’Sullivan; D Dorgan, C Walsh, M O’Neill.
Subs for Cork: S McDonnell for Dorgan (29), S O’Sullivan for O’Neill (35), D Holland for Walsh-Murphy (40), E Nash for Harnett (47), N Lordan for Cashman (47-49), J Kelleher for C Walsh (54).

Referee: Liam Devenney (Mayo).

Match Coverage

Match Programme

Team News

CORK (U20 v Offaly): G Creedon (Kilshannig); C O’Donovan (Newcestown), D Phelan (Aghada), C McGoldrick (Éire Óg); A Walsh-Murphy (Valley Rovers), T Walsh (Kanturk), D Cashman (Millstreet); B Hayes (St Finbarr’s), C O’Sullivan (Kilshannig); M O’Neill (Buttevant), J Cahalane (Castlehaven), N Hartnett (Douglas); D Dorgan (Ballincollig), C Walsh (Kanturk), D Buckley (Newcestown).
Subs: C O’Leary (Douglas), N Lordan (Ballinora), D Holland (Argideen Rangers), L Horgan (Nemo Rangers), E Nash (Douglas), A Murphy (Aghabullogue), S O’Sullivan (Adrigole), J Kelleher (Canovee), S McDonnell (Mallow).

Details

Date:
July 31, 2021
Time:
5:15 pm - 7:00 pm

Venue

Laois Hire O’Moore Park Portlaoise

GAA Units

Clare GAA
Cork GAA
Kerry GAA
Limerick GAA
Tipperary GAA
Waterford GAA
US GAA