The Rebels march on
GAA.ie reporter at Croke Park
Cork 3-17 Wexford 2-7
Cork booked their place in the final of the All-Ireland SHC against either Kilkenny or Tipperary after a semi-final replay win over Wexford on Saturday.
From what we witnessed six days earlier, that place in the decider could have been anyone's, but with the run out that Cork had in the drawn encounter, lessons were obviously learned. Donal O'Grady's players had sharpened their edge while Wexford's edge, on the other hand, had dulled.
Far from being a turkey shoot, despite the scoreline and the 13-point winning margin, Cork's victory had more to do with their improved team performance than Wexford's lack of ability.
Cork's defence were composed. With the exception of the two goals they conceded in the opening 15 minutes, the fullback trio of Wayne Sherlock, Pat Mulcahy and Diarmuid O'Sullivan was far more effective than in the drawn game - a factor highlighted by Wexford's ability to register just nine scores over the course of the game.
Cork's attack were enjoying a much less-frustrating time. Ben O'Connor, shackled for so long the last day, registered four points and though Joe Deane was held by Darragh Ryan in opening half, a flurry in the second saw him register 1-5 and take the mantle of the day's top scorer.
Cork were in the driving seat from the off. John Gardiner and Niall McCarthy had the Munster champions 0-2 to 0-0 up by the seventh minute before Mitch Jordan, loitering alone on the 14-yard line, nudged the ball to the back of the net.
The opportunity came when a Cork clearance was blocked and the sliothar bounced wildly over the heads of the Cork fullback line and into the path of Jordan. He missed with his first swipe, but as Donal Og Cusack rushed out, he managed to direct it past the Cloyne man.
Wexford may have captured the lead, but it never looked safe, even when they grabbed a second fortunate goal eight minutes later. Rory Jacob ran to gather the long ball sent to the edge of the 21-yard line and when he couldn't lift, he kicked into the path of Larry Murphy. The veteran campaigner pulled first time only to see Cusack save, but the ball looped high and dropped luckily under the bar.
Cork were three points down, 2-1 to 0-4, but they were anything but flustered by it and less than 2 minutes later, Alan Browne rocketed a shot low past Damien Fitzhenry. Both sides were square and Cork took it from there. Setanta O'hAilpin - marked more closely on this occasion - thumped over his only point of the game and Mickey O'Connell and Ben O'Connor added two more.
Wexford were keeping in touch but the death knell came when Timmy McCarthy was released by Niall McCarthy and beat Fitzhenry for a second goal. There could have been a third before the break, but Setanta's kicked effort from six yards somehow bobbled across the face of the goal and wide.
The second half continued in a similar trend. O'Connor and Jordan swapped points before Joe Deane registered his first score of the day from a free and at 2-11 to 2-5, it seemed the Rebels were unstoppable.
Wexford struggled and as the half wore on, their frustration grew. Deane meanwhile was hitting his purple patch and two more points helped Cork into a 2-13 to 2-6 lead. It was Deane who ended the game as a contest on the hour mark when he snatched Cork's third goal. A run by O'hAilpin dragged the Wexford defence towards him and the corner forward hand passed to the unmarked Deane. He took one step inside before finding the net.
Cork led 3-14 to 2-6 at this point and the game was up when John Conran opted to introduce some less well-known faces (Malachy Travers, Barry Lambert and Chris McGrath) for the established ones (Paul Codd, Larry O'Gorman, Dave Guiney).
Cork tagged on three more points to stretch the gap to 13 points, a margin of defeat, which, perhaps, Wexford did not deserve.
Cork: J Deane 1-5 (0-4f), T McCarthy 1-1, B O'Connor 0-4, A Browne 1-0, J Gardiner 0-3f, M O'Connell 0-2, N McCarthy, S O'hAilpin 0-1 each.
Wexford: M Jordan 1-2, P Codd 0-3f, L Murphy 1-0, A Fenlon, M Jacob 0-1 each.
Wides - Cork: 11. Wexford: 9.
Booked - Cork: W Sherlock. Wexford: D O'Connor.
, ill be listening in on suth east radio though 
