If anything, Cork were almost too impressive yesterday. This was the sort of swashbuckling excellence that will send expectations soaring on Leeside, leaving Kilkenny to quietly plot their advance to the final against a background theme provided by Brian Cody singing Cork's praises.
He will reflect about the pace and energy of midfielders Jerry O'Connor and Tom Kenny, and then set about priming Derek Lyng and Co to provide a more physical presence than the Cork pair encountered yesterday. He will mention the busy, running game of half-forwards Ben O'Connor, Niall and
Timmy McCarthy and then reflect on the considerable assets of his own half-backs.He will praise the solidity of the Cork defence while remaining conscious. Wexford asked very few hard questions of them yesterday. Most of all, he will highlight Cork's ravenous approach, although the prospect of winning the three-in-a-row for the first time in 90 years might leave Kilkenny a little peckish too. Unquestionably, Cork provided Cody with lots of reasons to talk them up, but the reality is that nobody can be quite sure whether yesterday's brilliance was down to them or to Wexford's inexplicable inertia. Wexford were scalded for pace in the wide open spaces of an extremely warm Croke Park and while they matched Cork over the very early laps, they couldn't maintain the high tempo once the O'Connors, the McCarthys, Tom Kenny, Ronan Curran and Sean Óg Ó hÁilpín pressed the accelerator.
Jerry and Ben O'Connor alone scored 0-14 (two points more than Wexford's total), while the McCarthys and Joe Deane managed 0-8 between them. Tom Kenny hit 1-1, the goal being a particularly spectacular effort which saw him run on full throttle through a wide, unguarded chasm in the Wexford defence before driving the ball past Damien Fitzhenry in the 29th minute.

The sheer depth of Wexford's problem was underlined by the fact that Fitzhenry was their star performer, making at least three outstanding saves and generally being in command of most situations around his goal. Malachy Travers, Darragh Ryan, 'Doc' O'Connor, Declan Ruth (in the second half) and Adrian Fenlon all hurled a lot of ball, but such was the scale and ferocity of Cork's game that Wexford's top men spent most of the time trying to put out
fires rather than light some of their own.

The sides were level (0-2 each) after nine minutes but a sudden injection of pace by Cork burned off Wexford in a matter of minutes. Jerry O'Connor, who scored 0-6 from play, and Tom Kenny repeatedly surged at the Wexford defence, creating space and openings for themselves and their colleagues. It was like seniors v juniors for 25 bewildering minutes before half-time, a period in which Wexford were out-scored by 1-11 to 0-2.  The forward line that made such solid progress against Kilkenny were completely tied up by a Cork defence where Curran, Ó hÁilpín, Wayne Sherlock and Diarmuid
O'Sullivan presented Wexford with a very intimidating barrier.

It was the ultimate power failure by the Wexford attack who managed just one point from play between them (Eoin Quigley) in the first half. Tomas Mahon (2) and a free by Paul Carley produced the rest of Wexford's paltry first-half return, which left them 12 adrift (1-13 to 0-4) at the interval.
They needed a half-time miracle, not a team talk, as it really was impossible to see how they could go about constructing any sort of revival.
Two early goals might have helped, but there was never the remotest possibility of that happening. And so it went, with Cork continuing to stroke over points from all distances and angles, while it took a great save by Fitzhenry to turn a Joe Deane goal effort out for a '65' in the 50th minute. The margin was up to 17 points (1-20 to 0-6) by the 47th minute, by which time the exits started coming in for some early business.

As Cork relaxed, Wexford ran into a prolific period, firing over six points in 11 minutes. However, they needed goals to make a real impression on the
embarrassing margin, but with the Cork defence so commanding the opportunities were very limited. And even when they managed to close in on the Cork goal, Donal Óg Cusack was equal to the task, making a smart save from Mitch Jordan in the 48th minute. It was typical of Wexford's barren day, one which removed much of the shine the Leinster championship success spread across the county.

SCORERS - Cork: B O'Connor 0-8 (5f, 1 '65'), J O'Connor 0-6, T Kenny 1-1, J Deane 0-4 (1f), N McCarthy, T McCarthy 0-2 each, J O'Callaghan 0-2, M O'Connell,K Murphy 0-1 each. Wexford: D Ruth (1f, 1'65'), P Carley (2f), P Codd, M Jordan 0-2, T Mahon 0-2 each, M Travers, E Quigley 0-1 each.

CORK - D Óg Cusack; W Sherlock, D O'Sullivan, B Murphy; S Óg Ó hÁilpín, R Curran, C O'Connor; T Kenny, J O'Connor; B O'Connor, N McCarthy, T McCarthy; K Murphy, B Corcoran, J Deane. Subs: J O'Callaghan for Deane (61), JP King for T McCarthy (61), M O'Connell for J O'Connor (64), J
Browne for Sherlock (67), P Mulcahy for O'Sullivan (69).
WEXFORD - D Fitzhenry; M Travers, D Ryan, D O'Connor; J O'Connor, D Ruth, R McCarthy; A Fenlon, T Mahon; P Carley, E Quigley, P Codd; R Jacob, M Jacob, M Jordan. Subs: K Rossiter for O'Connor (ht), D Lyng for Mahon (ht), L Murphy for M Jacob (46), C McGrath for Carley (59), B Lambert for Quigley (62).
REF - B Kelly (Westmeath)
Martin Breheny (The Irish Independent)

AS a hurling enthusiast, Brian Cody was looking forward last week to sitting back and relaxing at yesterday's second All-Ireland semi-final. As Kilkenny
manager he'll be delighted with the way it turned out. The next four weeks shouldn't be the hard sell for Cody that it normally is. We won't need convincing that Cork are a "serious" or "savage" hurling team as he might describe them himself. We know that already. Cody has been presented with the perfect shield for their three-in-a-row ambitions.

The first 'back door' final was completed with a ruthless demolition of the Leinster champions. We shouldn't denigrate the system for unearthing such a
pairing. The championship is as much about establishing the best teams as it is about shock results. We've had the shocks; now let the two best teams in hurling converge again on September 12 for a final because they deserve that stage.

Cork were awesome yesterday. From the moment Jerry O'Connor went spinning away with the ball from the throw-in and teed up Niall McCarthy for the game's first attack, a bad wide as it transpired, they played at a relentless pace. If they were doing nothing next weekend, Ben and Jerry O'Connor, Tom Kenny and Timmy McCarthy might consider getting themselves off to Athens to put together a real sprint relay team!
They burned off chasing Wexford defenders by taking straight lines at devastating speed. Between them, Jerry O'Connor and Kenny contributed 1-8 from midfield - the winter reconstruction has paid off handsomely.

But they had the platform to be so ambitious. Behind them, Ronan Curran was like a magnet at centre-back, while Sean Óg Ó hÁilpín worked across the line with boyish enthusiasm. Ó hÁilpín would muse afterwards that it was the first time in two years of Donal O'Grady's management that they got the bit between their teeth early on.
"Since Donal took over, this was our first game in two years that we really took the opposition in the first half," he said. "Usually we would rely on our second-half performance to get us through, but we were in a good position at the break," he reflected. They certainly were - 1-13 to 0-4 ahead, and their Wexford opponents were already looking to cash in their chips, bargain for some mercy and plead that it has been a good season with the Bob O'Keeffe Cup already stashed away.
But Cork were fussy and as half-time approached, O'Grady could sense a touch of lethargy. "Donal is a very hard man to please, he's a perfectionist. We squandered a few chances coming up to half-time and he reminded us of that at half-time. He felt people could get carried away," recalled Ó hÁilpín.
'We lagged a little in the second half, but to be honest, with 10 minutes to go the game was over' - Donal O'Grady Briefly, Declan Ruth offered hope with a converted free, but the next five scores raised red flags, one of which afforded Jerry O'Connor his sixth point.
By the 60th minute O'Grady was sure the game was up and so too were Wexford. John Conran was left with little room to peddle excuses. No six-week break or injuries could quell this red tide of perfection. "They've improved tremendously since the Munster championship. I said it after the Antrim game that Antrim weren't that bad, it was that Cork were moving so well," reasoned Conran.
"From our point of view we're disappointed. Today we didn't perform, but we've had a good season - we've won a Leinster title which we haven't won for seven years. I'm proud of the Wexford team, the players have been tremendous ambassadors for their county, they gave everything and it just didn't work our on the day. "Our full-back was huge today, I thought Damien was huge in goals, but other than that I thought we struggled in almost every other area."  You have to question Wexford's ambition too. Deep down, how much did Kilkenny's arrival in the final last weekend discourage them?
Had it been Waterford, you suspect their mood would have been that bit more buoyant yesterday. They played like a team content to have a Leinster title to show for nine championship games in two seasons.
Even a perfectionist like O'Grady found it hard to pick holes in his own team's performance. "I was worried at half-time that maybe some would think 'we have it done now, the match is over'. We lagged a little in the second half, but to be honest, with 10 minutes to go the game was over," he said.
"I was surprised we got so far ahead but our defence was superb in the first 20 minutes. We didn't allow them get clean possession from their puck-outs and that's what won it for us."
For O'Grady an All-Ireland title is more about giving the game something in Cork than it is about history. It's about giving the game life in part of the city where it's in decay. But most only see history for now.  For 120 years, Cork have always been ahead on hurling's roll of honour, but now
the counties are level on 28 titles each. Add in Kilkenny's bid for three titles-in-a-row and there is perhaps more to play for than any All-Ireland final
in recent memory.
Cork are already showing reticence, although Sean Óg Ó hÁilpín's grasp of sporting history tells him of the pressure involved. "Events in the past in sport tell us that even the greatest don't win. Ali himself was beaten, so we'll go in knowing we have a chance. If we're breathing on September 12, we have a chance and we hope to be breathing that day." The air around Croke Park is already thick with pride. Losing this one won't be easy.
Colm Keys (The Irish Independent)