Cork finally won an overdue All Ireland title when they defeated Down by one point, 0-16 to 0-15 on Sunday.
Over 81,000 attended the game at Croke Park on a wet day that cleared up for the game itself.
Cork were deserving of the victory. They have proved throughout the championship that they are a second half team and they tore into Down in the second half to erase the half time deficit of three points.
Cork also used their bench extremely well with injured captain Graham Canty making a huge difference on his introduction as did Nicholas Murphy
Cork had the chance of an explosive opening but missed a great goal chance in the first minute. After that they drifted out of the game and Down took over.
However, Cork always stayed within touching distance of Down and once Canty and Murphy came on the team seeemed to grow in confidence.
Daniel Goulding with 0-9 points and Donncha O'Connor with 0-5 were the stars.
Down target Martin Clarke, (above), was well-policed by the Cork defense, especially marker Noel O'Leary and never played his expected big game.
For Cork the breakthrough was badly needed as many of the team may have played their last game for the county.
They lost two previous All Ireland in 2007 and 2009 so today's victory was sweet compensation.
Tyrone won the minor final defeating Cork by one point.
Comments