Patrick Horgan points way for the Rebels
PATRICK HORGAN was the Rebel hero as his four points in-a-row between the 61st and 68th minutes saw Cork edge out Clare by 0-20 to 0-17 in Saturday night's All-Ireland SHC Round 2 qualifier in Thurles.
The sides were level on eight occasions in a pulsating battle but it was Jimmy Barry-Murphy's men who finished with a flourish to secure a quarter-final clash against beaten Leinster finalists, Galway.
Afterwards Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald would not be drawn on whether this defeat to signal the end of his tenure with the Banner County.
"We haven't done too badly over the last few years, the whole lot of us together.
"We'll all take stock, sit down and talk and see what the story is.
"Clare will drive on and be back - have no doubt about that - we're fighters and we'll mix it with the best of them again.
"Hats off to Cork, they scored some great points. We're not going to have any complaints, we had our chances ourselves.
"We're utterly disappointed but we wish Cork sincerely the very best of luck and they played a good game.
"I know Cork supporters probably won't be happy with their style that they lined out with and the way they played but it's all about winning games and I'd say well done to Jimmy (Barry-Murphy)."
SCORERS - Cork: P Horgan 0-8 (0-5f), P Cronin, S Harnedy, C Lehane 0-2 each, A Walsh, C Murphy, B Cooper, A Cadogan, J Coughlan, P O'Sullivan 0-1 each. Clare: T Kelly 0-5 (0-1f), C McGrath 0-3, Colin Ryan (0-2f), S O'Donnell 0-2 each, D McInerney, Conor Ryan, S Golden, D Honan, C Galvin 0-1 each.
CORK: A Nash; D Cahalane, S McDonnell, B Murphy; A Walsh, M Ellis, C Murphy; B Lawton, D Kearney; B Cooper, P Cronin, P Horgan; A Cadogan, S Harnedy, C Lehane. Subs: R O'Shea for Kearney (43), J Coughlan for Cadogan (50), P O'Sullivan for Cronin (59), D McCarthy for Lawton (65).
CLARE: P Kelly, D McInerney, C Dillon, S Morey; B Bugler, P O'Connor, J Browne; Conor Ryan, Colin Ryan; J Conlon, T Kelly, S Golden; D Honan, S O'Donnell, C McGrath. Subs: A Cunningham for Conlon (ht), P Donnellan for Colin Ryan (43), C Galvin for Golden (49), D Reidy for Morey (57), J Conlon for Honan (67).
REF: B Kelly (Westmeath).
shc qualifier: cork v clare