To those of you just joining us, welcome. To those of you who enjoyed Kildare’s six-point win over Derry in my company, welcome back.

Throw-in for Cork vs. Down is in just five minutes so don’t go anywhere. Team news is on the way.

The first bit of huge team news is that Graham Canty has failed a late fitness test and drops to the bench, with Eoin Cotter coming at corner-back and Michael Shields shifting into full-back. Over in the other corner, Eoin Cadogan is another late change, replacing Jamie O’Sullivan.

Cork: A Quirke; E Cadogan, M Shields, E Cotter; N O’Leary, J Miskella, P Kissane; A O’Connor, A Walsh; F Goold, P Kelly, P O’Neill; D Goulding, D O’Connor, P Kerrigan.

A late change for Down as well – Danny Hughes coming in at wing-forward for Liam Doyle.

Down: B McVeigh; A Branagan, D Gordon, G McCartan; D Rooney, K McKernan, C Garvey; K King, A McArdle; D Hughes, M Poland, C Maginn; C Laverty, B Coulter, M Clarke.

We’re off and running – with a flurry of points in the opening three minutes. Paudie Kissane gets Cork off the mark, but Down respond brilliantly through Conor Garvey and Martin Clarke. Down 0-02 Cork 0-01

Brendan McVeigh does brilliantly to deflect Pearse O’Neill’s shot over the bar. Down 0-02 Cork 0-02

GOAL! (O’Connor, 11′) Daniel Goulding knocks over a point and then, minutes later, finds Donncha O’Connor with a lovely pass and O’Connor finishes. Cork 1-03 Down 0-02

Benny Coulter and Conor McGinn pull down back to within two but Fintan Goold and Paddy Kelly restore Cork’s margin. Cork 1-05 Down 0-04

Great rallying by Down. Hughes, Poland and Coulter all add scores to make this a one-point game after 17 cracking minutes. Cork 1-05 Down 0-07

Daniel Goulding has had to be replaced for Cork with Barry O’Driscoll on in his stead. Donncha O’Connor is more than capable on free-taking duties though, and he slots a free. Cork 1-06 Down 0-07

GOAL! (Goold, 23′) Paddy Kelly is the creator, unselfishly playing in Goold who hammers home Cork’s second of the evening. Cork 2-06 Down 0-07

Apologies if any of you have been having technical problems, we should be fine and dandy from this point on. While you were gone, Martin Clarke and Donncha O’Connor exchanged points. Cork still lead by five. Cork 2-07 Down 0-8

Paul Kerrigan puts two clear goals between the sides, but as we enter the first of two minutes of injury time, McKernan comes up from the half-back line to point for Down. Cork 2-08 Down 0-09

HALF TIME: Cork 2-08 Down 0-09

Wow, that was a rather entertaining half of football. Apologies again for the technical difficulties which had we had temporarily.

If you feel the inclination, send me in your thoughts and comments on the first half and I’ll post the insightful ones.

The teams are just coming back onto the pitch for the second half. On the balance of play, Down are still well in this game but they’re probably not going to outpoint Cork by six or more scores, so at some stage, they’ll need to start going for goal.

We’re off and running. Here’s hoping that there’s no let-up in the intensity.

McGinn and Clarke combine with some lovely short handpasses to buy a free on the edge of the large square. Clarke knock its over the bar. Cork 2-08 Down 0-10

Huge save from Alan Quirke to palm away Peter Fitzpatrick’s drilled effort. The shot was at a nice height for the keeper, but it was still a great save to deny Down an opening.

Donncha O’Connor manages to sneak one just inside the left upright. At least, the umpire believes he did – the television replays are much less conclusive. Cork 2-09 Down 0-10

An early change for Down – Caolan Mooney, one of the county’s teenage superstars, is on for Danny Hughes.

Cadogan pushes on from corner-back to feed Donncha O’Connor who turns his man to point. That’s 1-04 for O’Connor today by my count. Cork 2-10 Down 0-10

Another sweetly-struck free from Donncha O’Connor extends the gap to seven points.

Another change for Down as – much to the crowd’s delight – Ambrose Rogers comes on to replace Anton McArdle. Cork 2-11 Down 0-10

Fintan Goold tacks on the Rebels’ fourth point without reply. Even with 25 minutes remaining, this one looks like it’s about to slip out of Down’s grasp. Cork 2-12 Down 0-10

O’Connor and Kissane combine to work the ball into Kerrigan, who takes a couple of strides before coolly taking his point. Cork 2-13 Down 0-10

Another wonderful, wonderful score by Paul Kerrigan, curling the ball over from a tight angle on the right. Cork’s advantage is now into double figures.

And, as if Down didn’t have enough to worry about, here comes Graham Canty, replacing Noel O’Leary. Cork 2-14 Down 0-10

Donncha O’Connor plants another free right between the posts from 45 yards out, but newly-introduced Down sub Paul McComiskey comes down the field to score. That’s only Down’s second of this half, while Cork have had seven. Just over 15 minutes to play. Cork 2-15 Down 0-11

RED CARD! McComiskey punches over his second point of the evening before the umpires draw the referee’s attention to an off-the-ball incident. I’m not quite sure what happened, but the upshot of it is yellow cards for Paudie Kissane and Martin Clarke. It’s the Down man’s second yellow though, and they’ll play the last 13 minutes with just 14 men. Cork 2-15 Down 0-12

Canty and Walsh add a point apiece. This is turning into a slaughter as Cork overrun Down in every department. Cork 2-17 Down 0-12

As an aside, 2-13 of Cork’s 2-17 total have come from play. How about that?

Ambrose Rogers has a sight on goal, but Paudie Kissane manages to force him just wide and the Down man can only take a point. Cork 2-17 Down 0-13

An off-balance John Miskella somehow manages to get enough boot on the ball to score a point from the left corner-forward position. Cork 2-18 Down 0-13

Job done for Cork so, unsurprisingly, this one has started to fizzle out a little bit. Three minutes plus stoppage time remaining.

Down corner-forward Conor Laverty gets his first point of the afternoon. I’d imagine he expected that to come slightly sooner than the 68th minute though. Paddy Kelly responds immediately for Cork, making it Cork 2-19 Down 0-14 .

FULL TIME: Cork 2-20 Down 0-14

Donncha O’Connor points a close-range free and that’s our lot.

If there were any genuine doubts about Cork’s All-Ireland credentials after their Munster Final defeat against Kerry, they have been well and truly answered this evening. It was an emphatic performance from the defending champions who, despite losing Daniel Goulding after just 20 minutes, looked dangerous on the attack every time they gained possession.

After a bright opening 35, Down tailed off slightly at the beginning of the second half and that is where the damage was done. They were distinctly second-best after the break and couldn’t cope with the Rebels’ free running and clever movement.

Before we go, a quick update on the half-time scores from this evening’s other games:

Wexford 0-10 Limerick 0-09

Tyrone 1-07 Armagh 0-06

Tyrone v. Armagh is a third-round qualifier of course, with the winner to play Roscommon next weekend.

That’s about all from me for the moment, as Kildare and Cork became teams number five and six to book their place in next weekend’s All-Ireland quarter-finals.

We’ll have reports on the evening’s other games, as well as the rest of the sports news, as the evening progresses so make sure you check back in wherever you find yourself on this fine Saturday.

Thanks for stopping by.