Stephen Sherlock's 72^nd minute goal snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for Cork in this evening's McGrath Cup final.

After mounting a spirited second-half comeback, Clare appeared to have one hand on the silverware when they led by two points entering stoppage time at Mallow but they were denied at the death by Sherlock as the Rebels registered a minimum margin 3-13 to 3-12 success.

In front of an attendance of 691, St Finbarr's clubman Sherlock also found the back of the Banner County's net early on and Ronan McCarthy's men enjoyed a 2-8 to 1-4 cushion at the break.

Mark Collins was responsible for Cork's other goal while Keelan Sexton netted for Colm Collins' charges who had trailed by 10 points at one stage.

Alan Sweeney pounced for Clare's second goal three minutes into the second-half to cut Cork's lead to three points and it was very much advantage Clare in the 51^st minute after Gearoid O'Brien raised their third green flag.

That left the scoreboard reading 3-9 to 2-9 in their favour but the Jamie O'Sullivan captained Rebel County kept battling to the end and their perseverance was rewarded thanks to Sherlock's late bundled effort from a goalmouth scramble.

Cork - M White; S Ryan, C Dorman, M McSweeney; P Clancy, K Flahive, C Kiely (0-1); J O'Sullivan, D O'Callaghan (0-1); S White, K Crowley, M Hurley (0-4); C Vaughan (0-3, 1f), M Collins (1-1), S Sherlock (2-3, 0-3f). Subs: C Dorgan for C Vaughan, J O'Rourke for K Crowley, I Maguire for C Dorman, R Deane for M Collins, S Powter for D O'Callaghan, D Quinn for S White.

Clare - K Roche; E O'Connor, C Brennan, G Kelly; T Hannan, A Fitzgerald, J Malone; S O'Donoghue, C O'Connor (0-1'45); P Lillis, A Sweeney (1-0), K Malone; E Courtney (0-3), K Sexton (1-1), C Finucane (0-5, 2f). Subs: E Collins for J Malone, D Bohannon (0-1) for S O'Donoghue, D Egan for K Malone, G O'Brien (1-1) for T Hannan, M O'Leary for A Sweeney, J Culligan for E Collins.

Referee - S Mulvihill.

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