Cork Overwhelms Kildare To Seal A Place In The Semi-Finals

GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Quarter-Final: Cork 2-19 Kildare 0-12

Cork eased into the semi-finals of the 2012 GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship with an impressive 13-point defeat of Kildare at Croke Park on Sunday.

An own goal by Kildare's Eoin Doyle and a well-worked effort by Colm O'Neill helped the Rebels to a 2-5 to 0-3 lead after just 18 minutes, before the Lilywhites came thundering back and hit the final five points of the second half to trail by three, 0-8 to 2-5, at the break.

However, Kildare meekly surrendered the momentum they had fought so hard for at the start of the second half, and Cork hit a quite remarkable 10 points in a row to take complete control of the game.

Cork had the luxury of missing a couple of glorious goal chances in the second half, while Kildare were reduced to 14 men after 53 minutes, when Doyle's miserable afternoon ended with a second yellow card.

Cork never relented and ruthlessly exposed Kildare's manifest deficiencies to record a superb win which sets them up nicely for their semi-final on August 26.

Kildare made the ideal start and were 0-2 to 0-0 ahead after four minutes, a Mikey Conway free and a Rob Kelly score from play their reward for dictating the tempo early on.

However, Cork were level by the 10th minute, with Paudie Kissane opening their account with a trademark point from play after a surging run out of defence, before Colm O'Neill nailed his first free of the game in fine style.

Further converted placed balls from Aidan Walsh and Donncha O'Connor have the Rebels a 0-5 to 0-3, before the Munster champions hit Kildare for two goals in a crazy three-minute spell.

The first was a killer. Paul Kerrigan turned over the ball and drove at the Kildare defence before unleashing a stinging shot which Shane Connolly blocked superbly. But the rebound cruelly hit wing-back Doyle and spilled into the unguarded net.

Cork landed another sucker punch in the 18th minute, with Colm O'Neill doing superbly to reach a loose ball and play in Donncha O'Connor with a clever pass.

O'Connor unselfishly played O'Neill back in and the Ballyclough man had the simple task of fisting the ball to an empty net.

Already eight points down, Kildare's pre-match plans were in tatters. Manager Kieran McGeeney responded by bringing Daryl Flynn into an overwhelmed midfield and the move paid immediate dividends.

An Alan Smith point from play stopped the rot, before Eoghan O'Flaherty drilled a free over to leave six in it. However, it was the score Smith hit on the half hour mark that really gave the Lilywhites some much-needed momentum. Morgan O'Flaherty won a great ball in defence and fed the always dangerous Tomás O'Connor, who in turn found Smith for a brilliant point.

John Doyle was central to the Kildare fightback and he added another from play, before Hugh McGrillen popped up from defence just before the break to strike his side's fifth in succession, which left them trailing by 2-5 to 0-8 at half-time.

The whistle came at exactly the wrong time for Kildare, as they had just seized the momentum, and when the game restarted, it was Cork who took over once again.

Kildare had a couple of early chances but both were driven wide. Cork made no such mistakes when they opened the second half scoring through Daniel Goulding in the 43rd minute, the Éire Óg clubman finishing after superb work by Eoin Cadogan and Canty.

Kerrigan added another, before the quicksilver Nemo Rangers man spurned a glorious goal chance, his drilled shot forcing a fine save from Connolly, the Kildare goalkeeper. Donncha O'Connor drilled over the resultant 45.

Kildare's capitulation was complete at this stage, and it was underlined when Walsh waltzed through their defence and blasted a shot over the bar when he really should have hit the back of the net to leave his side 2-9 to 0-8 ahead.

The game was over as a contest when Doyle, who was so unlucky to score an own goal in the first half, was sent off after picking up a second yellow card. Already struggling, Doyle's dismissal heaped further misery on McGeeney's side.

By now, the Rebels were in cruise control and clipping over scores at will, with Walsh, Kerrigan and Kissane all adding to their tallies as Cork racked up 10 points in a row before John Doyle finally hit Kildare's first score of the second half in the 61 minutes.

However, it was all remarkably one-sided as Cork weren't even required to hit top gear such was the paucity of the Lilywhites' challenge.