GAA: Rebels set up clash with the Kingdom after Croker corker; CORK TURN IT ON & DUMP TRIBE; CORK 2-14 GALWAY 2-11.

Byline: By ORLA BANNON

A STUNNING second half 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 HQ 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 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.

A spectacular goal by Brendan Jer O'Sullivan in the 50th minute completely turned the game on its head and put the Rebels ahead 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 in the last few years had battered their self-belief - but they bounced back strongly when the questions were asked. Lynch and O'Sullivan were the real stars for the Rebels.

After a disastrous first-half yesterday Cork came out with a nothing to lose attitude 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 as they will now face 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 judgement in the first-half which threatened to derail his team.

The sides traded lovely scores early on and were level at 0-6 to 1-3 after 23 minutes. But then disaster struck for O'Dwyer.

Barry Cullinane's 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 loose ball to the net.

However worse was to follow just three minutes later.

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

The Tribe went into an impressive 2-7 to 1-4 lead but in reply the Rebels grabbed two vital scores just before half-time through O'Sullivan and Anthony Lynch, to leave them trailing 2-7 to 1-6 at the interval.

At the restart Cork's O'Sullivan moved up to full-forward and it had an immediate impact when he scored to reduce the deficit to just three points.

It was nip and tuck for the next 10 minutes - but then came a moment of magic from O'Sullivan who, 30 yards out launched an absolute missile into the net off the right-hand upright. After that Cork players were sensing victory as they had a 2-13 to 2-9 lead.

Meehan scored to reduce the gap to two points but then two scoreable free-taking chances were wasted, first through Donnellan and then Joyce. Cork went on to close out the rest of the game in style.

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).