Kevin O’Donovan’s point in injury time, booked Cork’s place in the Sam Maguire Quarter Finals, as they narrowly edged a dramatic encounter against 14 man Roscommon.

Extra Time looked to be on the cards but the second half substitute raced in to point the winning score three minutes into stoppage time, Brian Hurley was ruled out before the tie and many felt that was enough to see Cork struggle, but a hard fought battle from them will see their names in the draw Monday morning.

Enda Smith was shown a straight red card for a punch deep into stoppage time as Cork were happy to wind down the clock, having seen Roscommon push them to the very death of this preliminary quarter-final.

A game of two halves, the first was slow and lethargic as Cork deployed bodies back to counter Roscommon, the second was action filled, goal chances a plenty too, Míchéal Martin with two big saves, while Conor Corbett’s goal was a huge momentum shift for his county in the second half.

Roscommon started the brighter as Ciaran Murtagh tapped over two early points, one from play followed by a free for a two point lead after three minutes, his cameo last weekend certainly aided Cork in overcoming Mayo, but Stephen Sherlock was named from the off today, his point a minute later got the Rebel County off the mark.

Míchéal Martin conceded a free just outside his area, the other Murtagh brother Diarmuid, stepped up to curl over the close range score and restore a two point lead for Roscommon after five minutes.

Cork were sitting deep as their visitors spent an awful amount of time working possession for a score, Brian O’Driscoll on the other hand pointed from an acute angle to again make it a one point game, but despite his sides defensive structure, Enda Smith was on hand to once again make it a two point game with a monster score.

Sherlock notched his second point this time from a free off a tight angle, coming to the end of the opening quarter it remained tight, but two points off frees for Ciaran Murtagh and another Diarmuid Murragh score coming from play, Roscommon were ahead 0-7 to 0-3.

Martin denied Smith a goal chance in the 22 minute dur9ng that Rossies purple patch, the goalkeeper putting out a strong hand to keep the net from being breached, momentum was with Roscommon, despite not playing the most stylish football, it was paying dividends.

Cork however would see out the remainder of the opening half in style, the half time whistle maybe coming at the wrong time, they had started to kick wides, but Sherlock pointed his second free off the afternoon gave them a new lease of life late on, the crowd too was awoken and that certainly willed them on.

Pressing on the Rossies kick out, they found two scores from their backline, Tommy Walsh and Matthew Taylor both hitting over the blackspot to leave a point between them at the break, the added time scores seeing Roscommon ahead 0-7 to 0-6, a well needed break for the visiting side.

Three minutes into the second half Rory Maguire another of the Cork rearguard came forward to tap over a score to level the tie, soon after another fine stop by Martin denied Diarmuid Murtagh this time, Connor Cox and Murtagh attacking well, Murtagh received the pass and shot for goal but the Cork net minder was big to send it out for a 45.

His opposite number Conor Caroll came forward to tap over the 45, their first score in almost 15 in game minutes, plus change, to restore the Roscommon lead, but again Cork hit the front and it was Maguire with his second of the half to level, before another pressing of the kick out, saw Chris Og Jones point to give Cork their first lead of the tie.

Not long after the Cork lead was extinguished, Smith put over a beauty to level the tie and then Diarmuid Murtagh off his left boot, crept as score inside the upright and it was a 0-10 to 0-9 lead in favour of the Rossies.

Almost a goal chance for Cork as Ian Magurie was lurking near the Roscommon goal, but the referee would award a free after the ball to Maguire evaded his grasp, Sherlock pointed from close range and this gamer remained hard to call, level once again.

Momentum swung back Cork’s way after they turned over the Roscommon kickout once again, Luke Fahy their fourth defender up to kick a vital point, that gave them the lead, but a long range free from Sherlock gave them a two point margin, their biggest lead of the tie.

Daire Cregg claimed a big mark and converted to cut the gap to one, but Roscommon lived dangerously, two errors at the back almost brought scores for Cork, a missp;laced pass saw Sherlock kick for the score but the umpires waved it wide, much to the displeasure of the home supporters, then the kickout was pressed and Chris Og Jones raced for goal but the ball slipped in his hands and wide.

A one point game, needed big scores to keep the momentum going, Cork hit the jugular, again their pressing of the kickout worked wonders, Brian O’Driscoll gathering possession to offload to the racing Conor Corbett, he continued his run after a handpass to Sean Powter, Powter returned the favour and Corbett’s left footed shot went into the net via the post.

Og Jones made it 1-13 to 0-11 before the hour mark, the game turning on it’s head, a one point lead turned to five in a matter of minutes, two Diarmuid Murtagh points kept Roscommon in the tie, a goal between them but Og Jones had the chance to put six points between them as he raced in on goal, but his shot went left and wide of the goal.

Daire Cregg, Diarmuid and Ciaran Murtagh kicked points at the death to level the tie going into stoppage time, but just as it looked like we had some more time at the Pairc to decide the winner, Kevin O’Donovan fisted over the game winning score, Roscommon pressed to force extra time but failed, Smith shown red just a few minutes later and that was that, Cork with two big performances now look forward to the quarter final stages.