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Dublin's Ryan O'Dwyer with Stephen McDonnell of Cork in pursuit. ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
AS IT HAPPENED

National Hurling League as it happened: Dublin v Cork

The JBM revolution came to Croke Park as Cork took on Dublin in Division 1A. Catch up with a cracker in our minute-by-minute report.

We went minute-by-minute for the first of this afternoon’s Spring Series double-header. It was Dublin v Cork in Division 1A of the National Hurling League in Croke Park — and it was a belter.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this afternoon’s action. E-mail niall@thescore.ie, tweet @thescore_iepost a message to our Facebook wall, or leave a comment below.

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FT: Cork 2-18 Dublin 2-17

Good afternoon and welcome to the first of our GAA liveblog double-header this Sunday afternoon. It’s Dublin v Cork in Division 1A of the National Hurling League. The teams are on the pitch and we’re just about ready to go.

Here are your teams. A late change for the Dubs as Liam Rushe comes in at full-forward for Shane Stapleton

Dublin: Gary Maguire; Niall Corcoran, Paul Schutte, Ruairi Trainor; Michael Carton, Joey Boland, Shane Durkin; John McCaffrey, Danny Sutcliffe; Conor McCormack, Ryan O’Dwyer, Simon Lambert; David Treacy, Liam Rushe, Paul Ryan.

Cork: Donal Og Cusack; Shane O’Neill, Stephen McDonnell, Brian Murphy; John Gardiner, Ross Cashman, Eoin Cadogan; Sean Og O hAilpin, Tom Kenny; Conor Lehane, Pa Cronin, Cathal Naughton; Patrick Horgan, Paudie O’Sullivan, Ben O’Connor.

A bright start to this one. Pa Cronin and Ben O’Connor with a point apiece for Cork; Paul Ryan keeps the Dubs within touching distance. Dublin 0-01 Cork 0-02

Patrick Horgan extends Cork’s lead with a pointed free. Dublin 0-01 Cork o-03

Pa Cronin gets the better of his early tussle with Dublin centre-back Joey Boland, beating his man to the ball before pointing over his left shoulder. Dublin 0-01 Cork 0-04

All of the hurling is being played down at the Canal end, which Cork are attacking in this opening half. Patrick Horgan beats Paul Schutte to the ball and turns to bear down on Gary Maguire’s goal. But when referee James McGrath’s whistle goes, it’s for a free-out for overcarrying rather than for a foul on Horgan, much to the Corkman’s dismay.

Dublin are carving out a few chances of their own, but their accuracy over the final 40 metres has been disappointing in this opening quarter. Paul Ryan adds to the wide count with a bad miss from the right.

Much better by Dublin. Paul Ryan flicks a lovely handpass to Simon Lambert in behind the Cork backs. He drives it hard at goal, but it’s straight at Donal Og Cusack who saves well to tip it over the bar for one point rather than three. Dublin 0-02 Cork 0-04

Liam Rushe, a late addition to the Dublin full-forward line, gets his first sniff at goal but his shot comes back off Stephen McDonnell’s knee and behind for a 65.

Paul Ryan converts, but Cork come straight back down the field and Pa Cronin restores their two-point advantage. Dublin 0-03 Cork 0-05

Wonderful defending by Michael Carton who gets two great ground blocks in to stifle a Cork attack. Dublin work the ball down to Paul Ryan who points from the left. Dublin 0-04 Cork 0-05

After a sluggish start, Dublin have come into this game and it’s bringing the best out of Cork as well. Ryan O’Dwyer gives Stephen McDonnell the slip and cuts back in towards goal from the right, but as he’s about to fire in a shot, Brian Murphy gets across to hook it away.

Joey Boland levels it up at five points apiece, but Paudie O’Sullivan restores Cork’s lead immediately. Dublin 0-05 Cork 0-06

Just under five minutes to go here until the break as Paul Ryan levels it up from a 65. Again, Paudie O’Sullivan responds quickly to put Cork back in front. Dublin 0-06 Cork 0-07

An early change for Dublin as Ryan O’Dwyer comes on to replace Conor McCormack.

Conor Lehane leaps to claim the ball above Shane Durkin’s head and adds another point for Cork. Dublin 0-06 Cork 0-08

Another great goal chance for Dublin, but Danny Sutcliffe’s initial effort is straight at Cusack again. As Ryan O’Dwyer follows up the rebound, Brian Murphy gets across to block brilliantly and the Dubs have to settle for a Sutcliffe point at the end of all that.

Conor Lehane adds his second of the match to restore Cork’s two-point lead as the half-time whistle blows. Dublin 0-07 Cork 0-09

HALF TIME: Dublin 0-07 Cork 0-09

Well, that was quite entertaining, wasn’t it? I’m off to grab a cup of tea, but here’s your half-time stat courtesy of RTE’s Darren Frehill.

Scoring summary

Dublin: P Ryan 0-04, J Boland 0-01, D Sutcliffe 0-01, S Lambert 0-01.

Cork: P Cronin 0-03, C Lehane 0-02, P O’Sullivan 0-02, P Horgan 0-01, B O’Connor 0-01.

We’re back underway here in Croker. Cork lead by two, playing into Hill 16 in this second half.

GOAL! Dublin 1-07 Cork 0-09 (Lambert, 37′) Anthony Daly will be delighted with that start. Within 90 seconds of the restart, Simon Lambert collects the ball and fires low across Donal Og Cusack for the first goal of the afternoon.

GOAL! Dublin 1-07 Cork 1-09 (Naughton, 38′) And what a response by Cork as Lambert’s opposite number at wing-forward, Cathal Naughton, races free of Shane Durkan and hammers one inside Gary Maguire’s left upright. A blistering start to this second half.

GOAL! Dublin 2-08 Cork 1-10 (O’Dwyer, 41′) More drama is Liam Rushe is clearly held by John Gardiner, and it’s a 20-metre free to Dublin.

Paul Ryan’s shot is blocked, but Ryan O’Dwyer is quickest to respond and he bundles home the rebound. I can hardly keep up.

Cork get a 20-metre free of their own when Ben O’Connor is held, but Patrick Horgan can only point it. Dublin lead by two. Dublin 2-10 Cork 1-11

Patrick Horgan and Danny Sutcliffe exchange a pair of points each. Dublin 2-13 Cork 1-13

Paul Ryan stretches Dublin’s lead to four with a free, but Cathal Naughton keeps Cork within a goal with a sweetly-struck point from the right. Dublin 2-14 Cork 1-14

Wonderful score by Conor Lehane, who beats Ruairi Trainor to the breaking ball and hits a wonderful score over his left shoulder. Patrick Horgan opts for a point rather than goal to narrow the deficit to one, but Paul Ryan hits back for Dublin immediately with two points of his own.

Just under 10 minutes to go here. Dublin 2-16 Cork 1-16

GOAL! Dublin 2-16 Cork 2-16 (Cronin, 65′) We’re all square here with five to play. A wonderful bit of ground hurling by Cork sub Jamie Coughlan who flicks the ball just past the outstretched tip of Gary Maguire’s hurl, leaving Pa Cronin to tap into an empty net.

Three minutes to play here. Danny Sutcliffe puts the Dubs back in front, but only for the briefest moment before William Egan levels it up with a brilliant individual effort from distance. Dublin 2-17 Cork 2-17

A minute to play as Patrick Horgan points a free to give Cork a late, late lead. Can JBM’s men hold on? Dublin 2-17 Cork 2-18

Two minutes of additional time…

Silly by Shane O’Neill who needlessly bundles Joey Boland off the ball — I don’t think the Dublin centre-back was going to be able to gain possession anyway.

Paul Ryan stands over what is likely to be the last chance of the game. It’s not an easy one…

And he misses to the left. Is that it for Dublin?

FULL TIME: Dublin 2-17 Cork 2-18

Dublin have one more chance at the death but are denied by a wonderful piece of defending by William Egan who wins the dropping ball under huge pressure.

What a game, what a win for Cork.

Cork come away with the win from a dramatic and entertaining contest at Headquarters. Both sides showed that there’s still an awful lot of early-season kinks to be worked out, but it made for a brilliant spectacle.

That’s two wins from two for Jimmy Barry Murphy since his return to the Rebels. For Dublin, Division 1 champions last year, it’s back-to-back defeats at the beginning of a new season.

Things don’t get any easier for Anthony Daly’s men either. They’ve got a trip to All-Ireland champions Kilkenny next weekend to get their heads around now.

Cork manager Jimmy Barry Murphy, speaking to TG4:

It was important to respond quickly to [Dublin's first] goal, and I think that was a very important turning point in the game for us.

We’ve a long way to go. We know we’ve an awful lot of work to do. As I said already, we’re trying to build up a panel that will make us competitive in the Championship, that really is the ultimate goal.

There’s plenty of negatives there as well. I’m sure we can look at the match again tonight and see what we can take from that, but there are plenty of negatives there as well.

Scoring summary

Cork (2-18): P Horgan 0-7, P Cronin 1-3, C Naughton 1-1, C Lehane 0-3, P O’Sullivan 0-2, B O’Connor 0-1, W Egan 0-1.

Dublin (2-17): P Ryan 0-8, D Sutcliffe 0-5, S Lambert 1-2, R O’Dwyer 1-0, J Boland 0-2.

So that’s it from the hurling. It’s a game that Dublin will feel they should have won, but Cork rallied late and had the all momentum after Pa Cronin’s goal five minutes from time.

We’re not done in Croke Park yet, with Dublin v Armagh in Division 1 of the NFL still to come. Stay with us for that one.

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