The Cork ladies senior footballers proved why they have been the top team in the country for the past six years, and why they are still the team to beat again this season when they hammered Galway by 6-19 to 1-10 last weekend in Mullingar.
When you get beaten by 24 points, there is not much the losing team can say, only - "well done" and Galway had no answer to the Cork girls once they got motoring.
This is a magnificent Cork outfit and they have won 11 out of the last 12 All-Ireland finals, and based on last weekend's performance it is difficult to see who will stop them in the coming weeks either.
They will face Mayo on September 2 in the All-Ireland semi-final after Frank Browne's team defeated Donegal by 3-14 to 2-11 in their quarter-final.
From Galway's perspective it was a devastating scoring blitz approaching half-time that put paid to their challenge – as Cork went from three points behind midway through the first half to 12 clear at the small whistle.
The Cork girls scored 3-11 without reply in a scintillating spell before and after half-time.
Cork were 1-01 to 0-07 adrift before they opened up with both barrels to crush the challenge of Galway, who were without a competitive fixture since beating Mayo on July 2.
Galway’s long-range shooting was impressive in the early stages, however Cork hit an unanswered 2-09 approaching half-time to lead by 3-10 to 0-07 at the break.
Galway suffered a big blow when influential midfielder Catriona Cormican went off injured after 18 minutes and that seemed to affect the team badly.
Cormican was the scorer of Galway’s seventh point but they sank without trace as Cork, who improved significantly on their qualifier victory over Monaghan, upped the ante.
Cork corner forward Orla Finn was in superb form and she deservedly picked up the player of the match award.
Galway's Mairéad Seoighe and Tracey Leonard hit a few scores for Stephen Glennon's team in the second half and Clare Galway's Deirdre Brennan registered a consolation goal for her team. However, Galway suffered another blow with nine minutes left when team captain Emer Flaherty was harshly yellow-carded, leaving the Connacht champions to finish the game with 14 players.
Cork rattled in two late goals and their quest for the seven-in-a-row remains very much on course.
Scorers for Galway: D Brennan (1-0 ), M Seoighe (1f ) and T Leonard (2f ) 0-03 each, S Hynes, C Cormican, O Divilly, and M Glynn 0-01 each.
Galway: D Gower, F Cooney, E Flaherty (Cpt ), S Hynes, Á Seoighe, B Hannon, S Burke, L Gannon, C Cormican, O Divilly, M Seoighe, Á McDonagh, T Leonard, S Conneally, M Glynn. Subs: D Brennan for Cormican (inj. 19 ), S Molloy, D Gorman, A Davoren, N Duggan.
