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Cork advanced to play Limerick next Monday night in the Munster U20 Hurling Championship with a routine 14-point win over Kerry.
Kerry had moved up from Grade B for 2020 and can be proud of his performance against the 2019 Irish runners-up at Austin Stack Park.
Kerry leveled his opponents in the first quarter, at which point Cork held a slight 0-4 to 0-3 lead. Michael Slattery and Dan Casey took the first two points for the Kingdom as Cork took most of the quarter to settle down.
Two points from excellent Tommy O’Connell and a sublime effort from the wing by Shane O’Regan got Cork ahead and they never headed headfirst again.
Winger Darragh Slattery and O’Connell traded scores and Michael Slattery tied again after a good run and a point, but Cork had returned from the breakwater with fire in his stomach.
Five unanswered points from Brian O’Sullivan, man of the match Dáire O’Leary (0-2), and one from O’Connell and Eoin Carey sent Cork moving 0-9 to 0-4 up front and at halftime . Cork led 0-11 to 0-6.
Kerry stuck to Cork’s skirts for long stretches of the second half. Six points in the third quarter should have solved the problem, but two points from Michael Slattery and a free kick that reached the net meant that Cork’s lead only increased marginally at the end of the third quarter, 0-17 to 1-7.
Brian Roche restarted with a goal and once Pat Ryan ran off his bench, Cork cleared. Substitute Brian Hayes scored 1-2, but not before Kerry’s Nathan Guerin found Cork’s net to reduce the gap to ten.
Cork had nine different scorers and his class was always going to take them, although Kerry’s gusty performance surprised more than a few.
B Roche (1-3), B Hayes (1-2), T O’Connell (0-5, 3fs), D O’Leary (0-4), S O’Regan (0-3), BO ‘ Sullivan, E Carey, C O’Brien (0-2 each), A Connolly (0-1).
M Slattery (1-5, 1-3fs, 0-1 ’65), N Guerin (1-0), D Slattery (0-2), K Goulding (f), D Casey, D Moriarty (0-1 each one ).
D Burns; M Clifford Brick, S Sheehan; D Slattery, K Goulding, D Casey; G Dooley, T Ó hAinifein; C Walsh, M Slattery, M Lenihan; D Goggin, M Kelliher, T Doyle.
N Guerin (h / t) for T Doyle, D Moriarty for M Kelliher (39), D Nolan for T Ó hAiniféin (43), S O’Halloran for M Lenihan (51), P Shanahan for S Sheehan (53).
E Davis; C O’Callaghan, E Roche, A Walsh Barry; K Moynihan, C Joyce, D O’Leary; S Quirke, B O’Sullivan; Roche B, O’Connell T, Carey E; S O’Regan, A Connolly, C O’Brien.
J Cahalane for A Connolly (41), B Hayes and E Twomey for T O’Connell and S Quirke (46), D Hogan for C O’Brien (50), L Horgan for K Moynihan (53).
M Kennedy (Tipperary).
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