Down are left uncorked by Kelly hat-trick

THIRTEEN points separated Cork and Down this time: 4-11 to 0-10 at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

Paddy Kelly struck a wonderful hat-trick of goals for Conor Counihan’s charges, with Donncha O’Connor registering their other major from a penalty late in the first half. Most of Down’s scores came from centre back Liam Doyle and rejuvenated centre forward Aidan Carr (who scored 0-7 between them).

Down started well but the hosts rallied to lead by 3-5 to 0-5 at the break, with goals from Kelly (2) and O’Connor.

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As has become customary when these two counties meet, both sides wore their away colours, Cork donning all white and Down sporting all black.

Playing against the wind, the visitors roared out of the blocks with the first three points through Carr (2) and Doyle. But Cork replied with scores from O’Connor (free) and Mark Collins to trail by 0-3 to 0-2 after 19 minutes.

The match turned on its head when Kelly dispatched two goals in the 27th and 29th minutes, with the impressive Barry O’Driscoll managing to fire a point in between. Suddenly, the Rebels led by 2-4 to 0-3! The Mourne men clipped over two of the next three scores courtesy of Aidan Branigan and Conor Laverty but the half had a disappointing end for them…

When Collins was brought down going through on goal, the Leesiders were awarded an injury-time penalty, which O’Connor converted to give them a 3-5 to 0-5 interval advantage.

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Carr clipped over his fourth point for the Ulster county but, when Ballincollig clubman Kelly completed his hat-trick, it was 4-7 to 0-7 15 minutes into the second half.

The Rebels got four of the next six points to lead by 14, 4-11 to 0-9 heading into injury time.

Paul Kerrigan made a mockery of his dismissal last weekend when he came on as a 25th-minute substitute for the winners, while Down boss James McCartan got to introduce Kevin McKernan, who has returned home from Australia.

Cork: A Quirke; R Carey, E Cadogan, M Shields (0-1); G Canty, P Kissane, N O’Leary; A O’Connor (0-1), P O’Neill (0-1); F Goold (0-1), M Collins (0-1), P Kelly (3-0); B O’Driscoll (0-2), D O’Connor (1-4), F Lynch. Subs: P Kerrigan for Lynch (25), E Cotter for Cadogan (half-time), S Kiely for O’Leary (54), L Shorten for Goold, N Murphy for A O’Connor (both 65).

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Down: B McVeigh; D Turley, D McCartan, O Costello; G McCartan, L Doyle (0-2), K Quinn; P Turley, D Gordon (0-1); D Hughes, A Carr (0-5), A Branigan (0-1); B Coulter, C Laverty (0-1), M Poland. Subs: C Garvey for D McCartan (32), C Maginn for Poland (half time), K McKernan for G McCartan, A McArdle for P Turley (both 42), B McArdle for Costello (52), G McCartan for Branigan (69, blood).