AT the end, the winners walked off the pitch to a muted enough reception from their small band of travelling support. The losers put their arms around each other's shoulders and took themselves into a season-ending huddle before walking off to rapturous applause. It was that kind of game, with Cork shaky in victory and Louth . . .though they'll hate the description . . . more than gallant in defeat.

Cork stay standing, though, even if, like a lot of the fancies left in the competition, they won't need telling that another day like this will be their last for the summer. For all that Michael Cussen impressed against Kerry in the Munster final, he was often ponderous here, left isolated at times by Cork's refusal or inability to find him.

If Billy Morgan and his merry men learn anything from watching the video, it will surely be that if you won't let the ball in to your 6'7" seven full-forward, then all you've got is a lanky guy in a field.

As for Louth, they exited the summer with what is probably the most a team of their standing can hope for . . .the happy knowledge that they left everything they had in Portlaoise and an off-season with nothing to regret.

They were playing their third game in 14 days here and come the hour mark, it began to tell. At that stage, Cork had worked themselves into a two-point lead and the Louth legs were just too leaden to haul them back.

"The games took their toll, no question, " said Louth manager Eamonn McEneaney afterwards. "I think it's something the GAA seriously have to luck at because it isn't fair on the teams coming through the qualifiers. You might get away with playing two weekends in a row but when you get to three, you're in trouble.

But look, we're very proud with the effort we put in and the football we played. If we had played like that in the Leinster Championship, we would have been in the final."

Nobody would argue with him on that score. Cork were in real bother at half-time.

They'd actually started the game fairly well, racking up six points in the first 13 minutes without any massive trauma. Granted, a couple of them were gifts from softish frees but some were genuine things of beauty. Kevin McMahon got himself on the end of a stirring Graham Canty run at one stage to lift the small Cork crowd but the best of them came from corner-back Kieran O'Connor just eight minutes in. A length-of-the-pitch handpassing move that had started with the other corner-back, Michael Shields, on his own 20-metre line ended seven pairs of hands later with O'Connor spearing over with the outside of his boot from just outside the exclusion zone.

So it wasn't as if this was total meltdown; for that opening quarter, they looked like a proper team. After 13 minutes, they were 0-6 to 0-3 up and though Louth's scores had been well-constructed and smartly-taken, the game at that point had the feel of one Cork should and most likely would close out as and how they pleased.

Not so. Louth, despite being unquestionably second best to Nicholas Murphy and Derek Kavanagh at midfield, didn't lie back and take their beating. Far from it. They got a hand in here, an arm in there, made sure all along that possession was earned instead of inherited. And for a 20-minute spell after they went those three points down, they even managed to come out the better of it around the centre. They nipped back a couple of points through frees from Aaron Hoey and Brian White and slapped over three more from play, rousing affairs from Colm Judge, Ronan Carroll and Hoey again. With five minutes to go until half-time, they'd engineered themselves a twopoint lead.

All the while, Cork were aimless and unsure of themselves going forward. Cussen was given three high balls to contest all half and was otherwise ignored. James Masters was having a poor game, shooting wides from almost impossible angles as his frustrations grew. Come the break, they were 0-8 to 0-9 down and, if not quite lucky to be so, certainly they'd been warned.

The nub of the game came about seven minutes into the second half. Louth came with their attempt to put the game out of reach and got themselves 0-12 to 0-9 up through points from full-forward Shane Lennon and a 45 from Mark Stanfield. You knew then that a Louth goal would end it but instead Cork came down the other end and racked up three points in 90 seconds, the middle a goal chance from Masters that brought the save of the summer from Stuart Reynolds.

When they got the next three as well, all from frees given away by tired Louth defenders, the day was done.

CORK P O'Shea; M Shields, G Canty, K O'Connor (0-1); J Miskella, G Spillane, A Lynch; D Kavanagh (0-1), N Murphy (0-1); C McCarthy (0-1), P O'Neill (0-1), K McMahon (0-3); J Masters (0-5, 0-3 frees), M Cussen, D O'Connor (0-3, all frees) Subs D Goulding and F Gould for McMahon andMcCarthy, 65 mins; E Sexton for Shields, 69 mins LOUTH S Reynolds; A Page, C Goss, J Neary; J O'Brien, M Fanning, P McGinnity; P Keenan, R Carroll (0-1); B White (0-2, both frees), M Farrelly, M Stan"eld (0-1, 45); A Hoey (0-4, 0-2 frees), S Lennon (0-2), C Judge (0-2) Subs D Clarke (0-2, 0-1 free) for White, h-t; D Finnegan and D Crilly for McGinnity and Farrelly, 53 mins; JJ Quigley for Stan"eld, 62 mins; J Murray for Judge, 66 mins Referee M Duffy (Sligo)