Five-star Cork hammer Offaly in Tullamore

Needing to win to stay on course for top-flight hurling next year, Cork were in absolutely no mood for messing when they made the journey to Tullamore to take on an improving Offaly on Sunday.

They made several changes from the side that had a thrilling win over Waterford in their previous game and with the replacements hungry for action, determined to make their mark, they sauntered to a runaway win.

It was just a little bit different than their previous journey to Offaly two years ago when they blew the home side out of the water and had the points in the bag after a few minutes. They had to work a bit harder here early on but the disparity in class was obvious and Offaly couldn't cope when Cork moved at full pace and clicked into top gear.

With a game to come against Wexford, Cork will now be confident of getting into the top three and a place in Division 1A of the restructured league next year. They were impressive here, playing some quality hurling and taking some great scores.

Offaly had competed very well before this, drawing with Wexford in a game they should have won and giving Kilkenny and Waterford some food for thought. It didn’t happen for them here, despite a battling and honest performance and it was clear that they were on a damage limitation exercise from before half-time.

Offaly had first use of the wind and held their own early on. They were level at 0-02 each after seven minutes but that was as good as it got for them. Cork had five points on the board before impressive defender Sam Bourke got Offaly’s third point in the 16th minute.

Cork upped the tempo considerably in the second quarter and Offaly couldn’t live with them. They had the home side in bother when they ran in straight lines at their defence