Cork lay down marker with impressive win over Clare

A devastating second-half display saw Cork take the crucial points from Ennis as they lowered their provincial rivals with little fuss.

With a Munster Championship reunion to come on Easter Sunday, Cork ruthlessly outscored their hosts by 2-07 to 0-04 on the turnover despite having a penalty saved immediately after half-time.

With the aid of the conditions, Cork found it difficult to get themselves in front but were a different side on the resumption as they literally threw caution to the wind and picked holes by running at the home rearguard, resulting in timely goals for Matty Taylor and Sean Powter.

The electric Douglas talisman also opened Cork's account in spectacular style when collecting a Brian Hurley pass before racing through and dummying the last defender to find the net in only the ninth minute.

It would be quickly wiped out when Keelan Sexton earned and converted a 14th-minute penalty to the right corner of Micheál Martin's net in an incident that also saw full-back Daniel O’Mahony black carded at 1-01 to 1-00.

The sides would be level on three more occasions before Sexton inched the Banner 1-04 to 1-03 in front by the interval but there was no shortage of drama as an interception at either end should have resulted in additional green flags.

First the excellent Chris Óg Jones cut out a misplaced defensive pass, only for home goalkeeper Stephen Ryan to come to the rescue while down the other end, Darragh Bohannon astutely countered but Eoin Cleary had to eventually settle for a point.

The second period only picked up where the first left off after a contentious foot block on Jones saw goalkeeper Ryan concede and then superbly tip away Brian Hurley’s subsequent penalty in the 37th minute.

It should have been the