Cork v Dublin: Rebels fail to hit top gear but book All-Ireland semi ...

Four unanswered points at the beginning of the second half stretched a five-point interval lead within touching distance of double-digit dominance.

On seven occasions throughout that second period, Cork’s lead stood eight-strong. The last of which came four minutes from the end of the regulation 70. No danger here. Cork, while not a great deal impressive, had the bus on cruise control going up the road to Croker for an All-Ireland semi-final in a fortnight.

And then, Dublin, belatedly, brought a little contest to a quarter-final fixture that had traipsed and dawdled along for far too long.

Seán Currie - having taken over dead-ball duties from the malfunctioning Donal Burke - and sub Paddy Doyle left the impressive new scoreboard at Thurles reading 0-26 to 0-20 on 68 minutes. The few Dublin supporters here let out a roar. They’d been waiting all afternoon to do so.

Across the seven remaining minutes, Dublin took aim at Patrick Collins’ goal on four occasions. They hadn’t had a meaningful goal opening in the 68 minutes before that.

Ronan Hayes flashed wide. Patrick Collins and Niall O’Leary blocked Diarmuid Ó Dúlaing and Donal Burke, while another Ó Dúlaing shot was halted in the sea of red that camped out in their own large rectangle for all of injury-time.

In between all this, there was still time for Cork to get up the field and for Declan Dalton to test the flexibility of Dublin ‘keeper Seán Brennan. A superb save. It meant Pat Ryan's side endured a first goalless championship outing since their Munster opener against Waterford in April of 2023. For Alan Connolly, he endured a second successive scoreless championship outing, although he was fouled for two second half frees.

Robbie O’Flynn struck two points with his first two possessions when introduced on the hour mark. Too many more in red, though, were counting down the clock.

It had been a flimsy first-half. Dublin were feckless, Cork flittered about the place to an intensity and intent that was several levels below their resurgent Munster endeavours.

Around the 17th minute mark, Dublin’s Donal Burke sent wide his second of three first-half missed frees. Conor Burke followed in the ensuing play with another wide. It brought their first half wide count to seven.

Add in an Eoghan O’Donnell point attempt dropped short in the second minute and a half block on Donal Burke two minutes later and you had nine Dublin white flags left behind by the first quarter post.

Instead of being 0-8 to 0-6 behind, the Dubs should at the very, very least have stood level with their opponents.

In an opening half of you shoot, we shoot, you score, we score, you miss, we miss, Cork saw Dublin’s back-to-back wides around the 17th minute mark and raised them three of their own in immediate succession.

Alan Connolly’s was a tussle for possession that saw him last touch the sliotar before it crossed the white paint. As for Shane Barrett and Declan Dalton, they won’t want to watch back their respective wides in the Monday review session.

Barrett and Dalton, to give them their dues, were two of Cork’s busier operators in the opening half.

Barrett clipped a pair from play and would have had the assist for an early Patrick Horgan goal but for a superb Eoghan O’Donnell block. Dalton also nabbed a pair from play. His two converted frees were for fouls on Ciarán Joyce, the latter restored to centre-back owing to a Rob Downey illness seeing him remain at home.

Connolly was the sole Cork forward not to score in the opening period. Harnedy and Horgan, the same as Barrett and Dalton, rose two white flags apiece from play.

Dublin’s front six carried none of the same threat. Midfielder Conor Burke was their top-scorer with 0-3. He also won two first-half frees.

But as for the collective, their short-passing game in an open country middle-third was more wooden than it wielded openings. They led Cork on wides, nine to eight, but trailed where it mattered.

The gap widened upon the restart. Dublin raised their wide count. Cork were never threatened until they were threatened right at the finish. Unconvincingly, they head back to Croker for the first time in three years.

Scorers for Cork: P Horgan (0-10, 0-7 frees); D Dalton (0-6, 0-4 frees); D Fitzgibbon, S Barrett, S Harnedy, R O’Flynn (0-2 each); B Hayes, L Meade (0-1).

Scorers for Dublin: S Currie (0-7, 0-4 frees) C Burke (0-4); D Burke (0-1 free), C Crummey (0-3 each); B Hayes (0-2); D Power, P Doyle (0-1 each).

CORK: P Collins; N O’Leary, S O’Donoghue, E Downey; T O’Mahony, C Joyce, M Coleman; L Meade, D Fitzgibbon; D Dalton, S Barrtet, S Harnedy; P Horgan, A Connolly, B Hayes.

SUBS: S Kingston for Harnedy, T O’Connell for Meade (both 49); G Millerick for Fitzgibbon (60); R O’Flynn for Hayes (61), C Lehane for Connolly (67).

DUBLIN: S Brennan; J Bellew, P Smyth, E O’Donnell; C Crummey, C Donohoe, D Gray; C Burke, M Grogan; B Hayes, D Burke, D Power; D Sutcliffe, S Currie, P Crummey.

SUBS: R Hayes for P Crummey (43); P Doyle for D Gray (48); D Ó Dúlaing for Grogan (54); J Madden for Donohoe (60).

Referee: M Kennedy (Tipperary).