Treaty again left to rue poor finishing
IN their Munster final defeat to Kerry three weeks ago, Limerick paid dearly for their inability to convert their dominance into scores. This weakness has been a consistent reason for the team’s failure to make a major breakthrough in the last decade and so it was again on Saturday night.
Admittedly referee Pádraig Hughes must also shoulder some of the blame for his inexplicable decision not to award a penalty for John Galvin when he was unceremoniously hauled down by Aidan Walsh in the first quarter of the game.
But the whistleblower cannot be blamed for Limerick’ subsequent poor finishing.
Soon after, Sean Buckley raced through one on one with the Cork goalkeeper, Alan Quirke, but crashed his shot off the crossbar and the ball was scrambled to safety. Ian Ryan hit the post and Ger Collins missed two frees before the short whistle, and those misses visibly sucked the confidence from the hosts.
Cork were not blameless in this department either as Limerick goalkeeper Brian Scanlon made a great save to deny Colm O’Neill while Paddy Kelly missed some easy frees. But for the most part these opportunities came against the run of play and were as a result of errors by Limerick players.
2. Cork’s superior tactics
CORK got it right tactically in the second half before they almost self-destructed in the three sensational minutes of additional time. It was clear from the outset that breaking the ball in the middle third was a major part of their game plan as they nullified the dominance of the Limerick midfield. Noel O Leary and Pearse O’Neill were both very prominent in collecting the spills and setting up attacks.
Cork won 13 kickouts to Limerick’s six in the second half and this gave them the platform to forge what looked a winning advantage.
In addition, Cork put the ball in early to their inside forwards forcing frees in good positions, which results in scores for Daniel Goulding and Ciarán Sheehan.
Limerick, on the other hand, slowed down the play by carrying the ball into contact and persisted in trying to walk through the Cork defence for the entire duration of the game. Ger Collins scored two points from play in the first six minutes and looked very dangerous yet he hardly received a pass from outside thereafter. While Limerick’s defensive strategy was effective it meant that the offensive part of their game was too predictable.
3. The strength in depth of the Cork panel
CORK were forced to make three changes to their original selection with John Miskella, Alan O’Connor and Fintan Goold being omitted for various reasons. But their replacements, Noel O’Leary, Derek Kavanagh and Paul Kerrigan played significant roles in this victory with O’Leary especially effective.
During the course of the game the Cork management introduced both O’ Connor and Goold in addition to Nicholas Murphy, who was impressive in his cameo at midfield. Donncha O’Connor was also sprung from the bench and contributed three points and had a positive influence on the game.
Limerick also used five substitutes but none of them influenced the game in the same way (though Conor Fitzgerald was effective).
The strength in depth of the Cork panel certainly had a big bearing on the outcome but Conor Counihan and his management team still appear to be struggling to find a settled combination. Their capacity to self destruct will ensure much discussion on the merits or otherwise of this Cork team.
