Coffey and O'Sullivan the scoring stars as Cork minors make it two from two

Clare 3-17

Cork 3-24

A hat-trick of goals from Callum Coffey helped Cork to make it two wins from two in the Electric Ireland Munster MHC as they overcame Clare in Tulla on Saturday.

Despite conceding two goals in the opening minutes, Fergal McCormack’s side displayed few signs of panic and pushed on in the second half having gone in trailing by a point at half-time.

Coffey’s Na Piarsaigh team-mate Craig O’Sullivan finished with 14 points, six of those from open play to go with a deadly accuracy from placed balls, but once again it was a strong team effort from the Rebels, who join Waterford on four points.

Playing against the wind in the first half, Cork fell behind early as Clare enjoyed a great start. John Barry’s opening score from a free was followed by a goal – Gavin Marshall did well to win the Cork puckout and find Liam Murphy, who unleashed a great finish.

Points from Callum Coffey, Michael Tadhg Brosnan and Eoghan O’Shea allowed Cork to settle as they trailed by 1-2 to 0-3 after five minutes, but then Clare hit them for another green flag.

Again, Murphy – scorer of 2-3 when the counties met last year – was the man to finish the move, showing good reactions, but goalkeeper Tom C Walsh was unfortunate that the rebound should fall to the corner-forward after he had saved well from Paul Rodgers.

Down five points with less than seven minutes on the clock, Cork were not rattled and produced the best response as Cormac Deane’s clever pass put Callum Coffey in and he rattled the net before Deane and O’Sullivan added points to tie matters at 2-2 to 1-5.

Such an explosive opening was never likely to be maintained in the long run and from there the rest of the half was even. The ball-winning ability of wing-backs Brosnan and Colm Garde was a big asset for Cork while O’Sullivan’s eye was in from dead balls and open play. They led for the first time through Ryan Dineen and it was 1-10 to 2-6 when Deane landed a lovely effort on 26 minutes but a pair of injury-time frees from Barry sent Clare in with a narrow advantage, 2-8 to 1-10.

Having taken time to get going in the first half, there were no such problems for Cork on the restart as another Deane point was followed by corner-back Darragh Heavin setting up Eoghan O’Shea and then O’Sullivan adding two more as Cork worked hard to turn the ball over up the field.

While Barry did open Clare’s second-half account, it was a brief interruption to the Cork flow. Midfielder Tom A Walsh made it 1-15 to 2-9 for Cork and two O’Sullivan frees sandwiched one from play by him, assisted by a wonderful piece of Deane skill.

It was 1-19 to 2-10 when Clare sub Cathal O’Doherty found Ian O’Brien with a nice pass and though he did well to create an opening, his attempted goal shot was hooked by Denis Fitzgerald – just one of a number of excellent interventions by the full-back in the second half – and the importance of that was shown moments later.

Just as in their win over Limerick, Cork responded to a let-off by scoring a goal at the other end, sub Seán Coughlan the creator for Coffey get his second.

While Cork did battle well to cut that nine-point lead back to six, Cork cancelled out those efforts as Deane’s lovely pass allowed Coffey to run on to the loose ball and send a one-handed tennis-backhand to the net for his hat-trick.

O’Sullivan brought his tally to 14 points as Cork eased clear, though Clare did have a late consolation with a fortunate effort from Barry.

Scorers for Clare: J Barry 1-5 (0-3 f), L Murphy 2-2, P Rodgers 0-5 (0-2 f), Z Phelan 0-2, I O’Brien, C Daly, J Gibbons 0-1 each.

Cork: C O’Sullivan 0-14 (0-6f, 0-2 65), C Coffey 3-1, C Deane 0-3, E O’Shea 0-2, TA Walsh, MT Brosnan, R Dineen, E Connolly 0-1 each.

CLARE: L Talty; C Gunning, D Murrihy, N Doyle; Z Phelan, E Crimmins, J O’Halloran; G Ball, E Cleary; G Marshall, J Barry, I O’Brien; J O’Donnell, P Rodgers, L Murphy.

Subs: C O’Doherty for Gunning (24, injured), J Gibbons for Marshall (44), R Ralph for O’Brien (49), C Daly for O’Donnell (50), J Keane Hayes for Cleary (56).

CORK: TC Walsh (Aghada); D Heavin (Russell Rovers), D Fitzgerald (Bride Rovers), C Lawton (Midleton); MT Brosnan (Glen Rovers), B Carroll (Dromina), C Garde (Lisgoold); TA Walsh (Carrigtwohill), J Counihan (Watergrasshill); R Donovan (Fermoy), C Deane (Killeagh), R Dineen (Erin’s Own); E O’Shea (Ballinhassig), C Coffey (Na Piarsaigh), C O’Sullivan (Na Piarsaigh).

Subs: S Coughlan (Passage) for Counihan (42), S Ring (Carrigtwohill) for Donovan (53), E Connolly (Dungourney) for Dineen (54), C Hanratty (Carrigaline) for TA Walsh (59), S Carroll (Midleton) for O’Shea (60+2).

Referee: C O’Donovan (Tipperary).

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