GAA: IT'S A CORKER AT CROKER; Tribesmen left in a Hayes as John leads the Rebel resistance in a stunning second half fightback Cork.......2-14 Galway.......2-11.

Byline: Orla Bannon

A STUNNING second half turnaround helped Cork grab their first win in Croke Park for three years yesterday as Galway's bad run in the All-Ireland series continued.

Both counties were desperate to end a poor run of form at headquarters and in the first half it looked as though Galway were coasting to their first Croke Park victory since winning the All-Ireland final replay in 2001.

Micheal Meehan, one of six Galway U21 All-Ireland winners starting the game, destroyed the Cork rearguard early on and his two opportunistic goals helped the Tribesmen to a 2-7 to 1-6 half-time lead.

This was an open, exciting game which bore little resemblance to the dross witnessed at Croker 24 hours earlier but there was one striking similarity - the team leading at half time lost.

Derry and Monaghan choked in the second half on Saturday and yesterday it was Galway who lost control and momentum as Cork came charging back into the contest.

A spectacular goal by Brendan Jer O'Sullivan in the 50th minute completely turned the game on its head and put the Rebels in front for the first time since John Hayes' 12th minute penalty.

Cork have shown fragile confidence in the last few years - big Croke Park defeats to Kerry and Fermanagh had battered their self-belief but they bounced back strongly yesterday when the questions were asked with Lynch and O'Sullivan the real stars.

After a disastrous first half, they came out with a nothing to lose attitude, opened their shoulders and ripped into Galway.

The midfield, which had been non-existent early on, started winning all the clean and loose possession and they hit a real purple patch midway through the second half, hitting 1-5 without reply in a 12-minute spell.

It was awesome stuff and their joy at the final whistle was understandable before the serious stuff begins again in earnest against Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final.

The most relieved Cork man had to be goalkeeper Kevin O'Dwyer who made two big errors of judgment in the first half which threatened to derail his team.

The sides traded lovely scores early on - barely a hand was laid on the opposition as Galway's awesome full-forward line of Padraic Joyce, Meehan and Sean Armstrong all scored superb efforts from play.

At the other end Sexton, Hayes and O'Sullivan were doing the damage for Cork and the scores were level at 0-6 to 1-3 after 23 minutes when disaster struck for O'Dwyer.

Barry Cullinane was having a fine game at midfield but his poorly struck effort at a point dropped short and looked an easy catch for O'Dwyer but he let it slip through his hands and the ever-alert Meehan fisted the ball to the net.

Niall Geary's head was spinning having already been turned inside out for a jinking Meehan point moments earlier and Billy Morgan made the switch moving Gary Murphy onto the young Caltra ace.

However, worse was to follow just three minutes later.

O'Dwyer, maybe over-anxious to atone for his mistake, came flying out of his goal for a ball he was never getting to and Meehan won the race, licked Murphy for pace and rounded the keeper to roll the ball into an empty net.

To make matters worse, Armstrong, another of the U21 stars, then roasted Geary to score another long-range effort to give Galway an impressive 2-7 to 1-4 lead.

The quality of ball going up to the Cork forwards was poor but the Rebels grabbed two vital scores just before half time through Brendan Jer and the brilliant Anthony Lynch who stormed up the field and took the responsibility on with a morale-boosting point to leave them trailing 2-7 to 1-6 at the interval.

Cork changes had to be made and Kieran O'Connor replaced Geary while Brendan Jer moved up to full-forward and it had an immediate impact when he scored from an acute angle to reduce the deficit to just three points.

It was nip and tuck then for the next 10 minutes, Joyce and Masters trading two frees apiece but Galway were keeping their noses in front.

Then came a moment of magic from O'Sullivan, who collected a Kavanagh pass about 30 yards out and took a few steps before launching a missile which flew into the net off the right-hand upright.

That took Cork into the lead for the first time since Hayes' well-taken penalty early on and they followed it up with a good score from Kevin MacMahon.

All around the field Cork players were sensing victory and Lynch, who had just been booked for a shoulder on Padraic Joyce, charged up the field for his second inspirational point of the day.

Philip Clifford shrugged off an indifferent display to thump over a point which put them 2-13 to 2-9 ahead but Galway stopped the rot with a Joyce free, their first score in 17 minutes.

Meehan scored to reduce the gap to two points but then two scoreable free-taking chances were wasted, first through the below par Donnellan and then Joyce who took over Donnellan's kicking duties on the left side of the field.

Joyce moved to centre half-forward but, with Galway struggling in the middle third, the potent Galway forwards hardly got their hands on the ball in the second half and Cork closed the game out with another point from John Hayes.

CORK: K O'Dwyer, N Geary, G Canty, G Murphy, O Sexton (0-1, capt), A Lynch (0-2), N O'Leary, D Kavanagh, N Murphy, J Masters (0-3, two frees), C McCarthy, K MacMahon (0-1), P Clifford (0-1), BJ O'Sullivan (1-3), J Hayes (1-3, one free) Subs: K O'Connor for Geary (HT), A Cronin for Masters (61).

GALWAY: B O'Donoghue, A Burke, F Hanley, K Fitzgerald, D Meehan, P Clancy, D Burke, B Cullinane, N Coleman, S Armstrong (0-2), M Clancy, J Bergin, M Meehan (2-2), P Joyce (0-7, five frees, capt), M Donnellan Subs: N Meehan for Coleman (42), K Comer for M Clancy (60), C Monaghan for Hanley (69).

REFEREE: Mick Deegan (Laois).

CAPTION(S):

AERIAL DUAL: Joe Bergin and Owen Sexton of Cork; JUBLIANT: Owen Sexton celebrates victory yesterday; WELL DONE: Billy Morgan hugs Noel O''Leary; TIGHT TUSSLE: Anthony Lynch and Paul Clancy