Galway defeated 14-man Cork by 2-26 to 1-18 at Croke Park this afternoon to become the first side to progress into this year’s All-Ireland senior hurling championship final.

Micheál Donoghue’s men blitzed their Munster counterparts after the change of ends to pull eight points clear and the dismissal of skipper Darragh Fitzgibbon with 15 minutes to go left the Rebels with a mountain to climb ahead of Conor Cooney’s late goal icing the sweet victory for the Leinster champions.

The Tribesmen got out to an early 0-3 to 0-0 lead before seeing it cut to one and then lashing in a Darragh Neary goal in the fifth minute.

Jason Rabbitte’s point made it 1-4 to 0-2 but Cork would get back within one with the help of scores from Fitzgibbon, Alan Connolly (free) and Diarmuid Healy and then hit the front for the first time in the 23rd minute.

Alan Walsh raised the green flag for Ben O’Connor’s side and the points of Brian Hayes (2) and Fitzgibbon had them five to the good prior to Galway getting scores back via Darren Morrissey, Tom Monaghan and Aaron Niland that brought them back to within the minimum (1-13 to 1-12) at the break.

Midfielder Gavin Lee and Shane Barrett traded scores in the opening two minutes of the resumption and, from there, Galway would cut loose as Ronan Glennon, Padraic Mannion and Monaghan got them motoring with points.

Half a dozen more unanswered scores would sail over Patrick Collins’s crossbar, leaving the Leesiders stunned and it got worse for them when Fitzgibbon received his marching orders after picking up a second caution in the 55th minute.

The scores of Mannion, Whelan and Cooney helped to usher the Leinster champions further in front and the latter’s goal had the margin at a dozen prior to Barry Walsh’s free at the other end wrapping up the scores for the day.

Now into their first All-Ireland SHC decider since 2018, Galway await the winners of tomorrow’s other semi-final clash between Limerick and Clare (4pm) to see who will claim the Liam MacCarthy Cup on July 19th.

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