Patrick Horgan: A setback like Sunday was almost necessary for Cork
LAUNCHPAD: Limerick goalkeeper Nickie Quaid is tackled by Alan Connolly of Cork during the Allianz Hurling League Division 1A final match between Limerick and Cork at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by John Sheridan/Sportsfile
Limerick were fast out of the blocks on Sunday last: they started with the breeze and they used it well. After running up a decent lead early on they never let Cork get back on level terms and kicked for home with a good scoring run at the end.
That breeze had a fair effect on both of the games, and it was significant that the winners of both games managed it better than their opponents.
For instance, in the first game I thought Dublin did pretty well generally but their timing was slightly off a few times with restarts in the first half against the wind, and it hurt them. If people were watching on TG4 they were able to see that happen in real time on the behind-the-goal camera view: the timing of both the Dublin puck-outs and the players running for them wasn’t quite right a couple of times and they were punished by Clare when those moves broke down.
Clare were good with their restarts - they were very good at finding players in space, and that’s vital when you need your puck-out success to be over 60 per cent to have a chance of winning.
It’s not all bad news for Dublin, though. I’ve said all year that their athleticism and fitness will keep them in games, and that was a feature last weekend as well, when they stayed in the hunt until the very end of the game.
Clare will also be happy. They’ve been promoted back to the top flight, they won the final on Sunday, and they haven’t had to be at their absolute best either. There’s plenty more to come from them this year, and the proof of that was when you saw that Tony Kelly wasn’t needed.
In the second game Limerick were exceptional in the way they managed practically all aspects of their gameplan, and their puck-outs were no exception. Their receiver almost always had the first crack at the delivery rather than a Cork player, and that gave them a great platform.
In contrast, when Cork were playing into the wind they were trying to work the ball out from the back with their restarts, which is always a very risky strategy against Limerick, but they were struggling with long puck-outs, so there wasn’t really an alternative.
The referee angered the Cork support with a couple of decisions on handpasses which certainly seemed to be legal, such as Tim O’Mahony’s, while Shane Barrett was also pulled for one to Brian Hayes when Cork had a goal chance in the second half, though that wasn’t as clear-cut a case as Tim’s.
Limerick didn’t seem to be punished on handpassing to the same extent, but their supporters would no doubt point to the goal they were denied at the end of the first half: after a few bodies piled up in the Cork square Limerick poked the ball over the line and I didn’t see any reason to rule it out.
Limerick’s distribution was the real killer for them, as it often is. Whenever you play against them you’re forced to choose between sitting off and pushing onto them, and Sunday was the latest instalment in teams trying to make that choice - and finding out how hard it is.
Aaron Gillane was in top form for Limerick so the obvious question to ask is why Cork didn’t drop someone back to sweep in front of their full-back line and offer some protection. If you do that, though, you’re giving Limerick a numerical advantage in the middle third of the field where they’re able to work the ball through the hands for long-range shots - or to deliver the ball to the full-forward line so well that a sweeper doesn’t matter anyway.
Because of that prospect, the thinking by some opponents is to put the pressure on in that middle third - to engage Limerick there and to stop them making those accurate connections with their inside line; I’ve no doubt those were the instructions Rob Downey was following on Sunday.
Limerick were full value for their win. They started well and Cork only got back into the game through an uncharacteristic mistake by Diarmaid Byrnes which left Brian Hayes in for a goal.
They have a nice run now, three weeks, to prepare for the Munster championship, and that’s an ideal break, because they’ll be able to rehabilitate whatever small knocks they picked up at the weekend.
I said beforehand that the game would be valuable to both Limerick and Cork because it’d show both teams where a few tactical or positional tweaks were needed, and Cork probably have more tweaks to consider, having lost.
Moving Darragh Fitzgibbon back to midfield from the half-forward line will have to be one of those tweaks. Playing as a wing-forward makes it more difficult for him to influence the game, which is why I’d move him to a central position and increase his involvement. You need your best players where they have the most influence - and even though Limerick won and were very impressive, by the same logic I’d still put Kyle Hayes into centre-back, where he’d have more influence on proceedings.
Shaking up the subs’ bench is another challenge for Cork. They didn’t get much return from their replacements last weekend, particularly up front. I’m surprised that Shane Kingston wasn’t involved, because he’s proven in the past that he can contribute when he’s brought on, and managers love players they know can hit the ground running when introduced.
It’s an invaluable quality, because so many players can’t do it - they can’t get to the pitch of a game and get involved immediately, and Shane’s shown that he can do that.
The Cork support will be disappointed, but they’ll also realise that it was better that display happened last weekend than on Sunday week in Semple Stadium, with all due respect to the national league.
There are lots of lessons for Cork to take from the game in order to improve, and I’d make the argument that a game like last Sunday’s was almost necessary: a defeat which forces you to question what you’re doing and what to do when things go wrong.
Not too far wrong, though. Ben O’Connor will be hoping Sean O’Donoghue is fit for the Tipp match. It was no help to Cork when he went off yesterday, because even though Aaron Gillane was in top form, Sean is the best option Cork have for marking the opposition’s danger men.
Finally, I don’t think the decision to play the two games in the Gaelic Grounds worked out. The atmosphere was up and down, and there were large empty spaces in the second half of the Limerick-Cork game. I don’t expect that to be the case in the Munster championship in a fortnight’s time.
