Cork's Late Surge Sees Them Through

GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Semi-Final: Cork 1-15 Dublin 1-14

It was a game Cork should never have won. For 55 minutes Pat Gilroy's young Dublin side controlled a fascinating semi-final at Croke Park. They played with a rabid intensity that never dropped, not for one moment, and stifled and frustrated Cork to the point where Conor Counihan's men looked a pale shadow of the team that has become one of the dominant forces of the modern game.

Dublin, as expected, didn't contest Cork's kickouts, allowed them to have the ball in defence and then set up an impregnable blue wall just inside their own half. Cork attacked and attacked and kept coming up empty, as Dublin showed an unrestrained zeal and desire to go about their defensive duties. They stripped Cork of the ball time after time and closed down the space so that the Rebels looked like they were entangled in poison ivy every time they crossed into the Dublin half.

However, Dublin's plan had a flaw and it was exposed as the game entered the final quarter. The intensity remained constant but the concentration levels dropped in the closing stages and their discipline suffered as a result.

Cork never gained as much as a toehold - they did have a fleeting period of dominance in the first half - in the game until the 53rd minute, when they were awarded a penalty after substitute Colm O'Neill was fouled by Ross McConnell and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Dublin had maintained a constant lead of around four points to that point, but when Donncha O'Connor stepped up and drilled a low shot from 11 metres off the post and to the back of the net, Cork were suddenly back in the game.

McConnell had been immense to that point, but the intensity levels he and Michael Dara Macauley had shown in dominating the midfield battle meant that he was weary - both mentally and physically - as the game entered its most critical juncture, when tired minds can be as dangerous as battered limbs.

Bernard Brogan, who finished the game with another incredible tally of 1-7, and Bryan Cullen responded with points for the Dubs and nudged them back into a three-point lead.

But, with the clock ticking down, Cork came into their own, as Colm O'Neill and Paddy Kelly put them into a perfect position to mount a late assault with a pair of well-taken scores. It was then that Dublin's inexperience betrayed them and they began to concede frees within O'Connor's range. In a three-minute spell, O'Connor punished the Dubs with three brilliantly-taken frees, the second of which leveled the game in the 69th minute, before he nudged Cork ahead for the first time in the first minute of stoppage time.

The prelude to the third of those scores saw McConnell sent off on a second yellow card for a late foul on Cork wing-back Noel O'Leary. Dublin were creaking and Cork had, without warning, taken control of the game. The Rebels attacked again and Derek Kavanagh, now free of his marker, slotted over the insurance point. Although Bernard Brogan did land a latepoint for the Dubs, it was too late; they had blow their chance of making it to the All-Ireland final.

Cork are now in an All-Ireland final, which they will be strong favourites to win, after a season that has been pockmarked by poor performances and erratic form. This showing will have done little to convince their detractors that they are ready to end a 20-year stretch on Leeside without and All-Ireland title.

Cork's flaws were routinely exposed by Dublin, especially in the first half of an exciting game, when they were caught cold by a sucker punch of an early goal. Just two minutes in, Cork were punished for poor organisation at the back as Ray Carey was left one-on-one with Bernard Brogan and the Dublin danger man collected a Niall Corkery pass to hit the net. Dublin were humming after their electric start and Philly McMahon and Alan Brogan had them 1-2 to 0-2 ahead after 10 minutes.

Cork were being overrun in midfield and struggled to cope with Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton's clever kickouts. However, Cork might have been on level had Cluxton not spread himself brilliantly to deny Pearse O'Neill after Alan O'Connor had punched a massive hole in the Dublin defence.

Bernard Brogan and Eoghan O'Gara were causing panic in the Cork defence in those opening stages and it wasn't long before Graham Canty, who had passed a late fitness test to take his place at centre-back, and Michael Shields were brought back to shepherd the pair. Cork were drowning in midfield and Macauley and McConnell were winning an abundance of possession which the Brogan brothers were thriving on.

Eventually, Cork began to settle and Aidan Walsh's point 19 minutes in, having kicked two bad wides earlier, was the point they needed to ease their way back into the battle.

Paul Kerrigan reduced the gap to just three when he kicked his sole score of the afternoon just before the break, and, amazingly, he might have then leveled the game had his attempted point from an angled not cannoned off a post. Bernard Brogan did hit a late score for the Dubs to give the score line - 1-8 to 0-7 - a more accurate reflection at half-time.

Cork lost Canty to injury at the break, with dual star Eoin Cadogan coming into the full-back line to replace the Rebels' leader. They got to know each other in the 42nd minute, when O'Gara was lucky to escape with a yellow card after clashing with the Douglas man.

Dublin dominated the third quarter, but a couple of points from McConnell and Bernard Brogan was their only return. Cork were completely frustrated and they were unable to implement their strong-running game, as every time they made it into the opposition territory they seemed to turn over possession or shoot aimlessly and make questionable decisions.

However, for all their dominance, Dublin were completely reliant on Bernard Brogan for scores and they never managed to build up anything more than a five-point lead. Those failings would haunt them when Donncha O'Connor clinically punished them in the closing quarter.