Clare and Cork win All-Ireland SHC quarter-finals

Shane O'Donnell's second-half goal helped Clare overcome 14-man Wexford at Semple Stadium

Clare and Cork progressed to the All-Ireland Hurling semi-finals with ultimately dominant wins as Rory O'Connor's first-half red card ended Wexford's hopes and Dublin failed to fire against the Rebel County.

Dublin's late rally cut into Cork's big lead in the opening Thurles contest but Pat Ryan's side were never in danger of being caught as they took a 0-26 to 0-21 verdict.

In the second semi-final Wexford fought back from 0-12 to 0-5 down to level as Lee Chin netted a penalty but O'Connor's dismissal for a second yellow card moments later was a devastating blow for the Slaneysiders.

While Wexford did hit the opening two scores of the second half to draw level at 1-12 to 0-15, Clare exploited their numerical advantage to fire an unanswered 1-3 as man of the match Shane O'Donnell stroked in a glorious goal.

The Banner County's strong bench helped them pull away in the closing stages to win 2-28 to 1-19 as veteran substitute Ian Galvin hit another cracking goal.

O'Donnell finished with 1-5 for Clare with Tony Kelly contributing 0-6 and Mark Rodgers 0-5.

Clare's win up an opening semi-final against Kilkenny at Croke Park on 6 July with Cork facing five-in-a-row seeking Limerick the following day at headquarters.

O'Connor red card a huge moment

Clare led 0-4 to 0-0 and 0-6 to 0-1 early on against Wexford and while two Lee Chin points and a long-range free from goalkeeper Mark Fanning cut the Banner County's lead to 0-7 to 0-4, the margin was extended to 0-12 to 0-5 by the 25th minute with Kelly and Rodgers having contributing 0-4 and 0-3 by that stage.

But O'Connor's 25th-minute point started a levelling run of 1-3 for Wexford as Chin fired his penalty to the net after Adam Hogan's errant pass forced David McInerney to haul down O'Connor.

McInerney received a black card for his troubles but Wexford were soon down to 14 men for the remainder of the contest as O'Connor's unwise pull on the impressive David Reidy resulted in his second yellow card after a mistimed shoulder on the same player in the opening seconds.

After two more Kelly points helped Clare go in 0-15 to 1-10 ahead at half-time, Wexford did initially draw level but the Bannermen began to fully exploit their extra man as an O'Donnell point started an unanswered run of 1-3 which was completed by the full-forward's superb goal as his roll of the wrist allowed him to wrong foot Fanning.

Initially, Wexford reacted well with three straight points to cut Clare's lead to three but Galvin's 54th-minute goal ended the game as a contest as the Bannermen moved seven up.

Clare outscored Wexford 0-9 to 0-4 during the remainder of the contest which left a final 12-point margin that flattered Brian Lohan's side.

Cork led Dublin 0-15 to 0-10 at half-time in Saturday's opening All-Ireland Hurling quarter-final at Semple Stadium

In the opening contest, Dublin led on four occasions in the opening 12 minutes but paid for a series of bad wides as Cork moved into a 0-15 to 0-10 advantage by half-time.

As Patrick Horgan and Declan Dalton continued to do much of Cork's scoring, they extended their advantage to 0-19 to 0-10 and while Paddy Doyle's introduction improved the struggling Dublin attack, the Rebels were never in any real danger of being caught even though the margin was trimmed to five by the finish.

Ronan Hayes did have a late goal chance which would have cut Cork's lead to three but the shot fizzed wide and with it went Dublin's remaining slim hopes.

Dublin free-taker Donal Burke had a day to forget as he missed a number of chances from placed balls and play.

In contract, Cork free-taker Horgan finished with 0-10 although his manager Ryan will know the Rebels will need to lift their game considerably to challenge Limerick in the semi-final.