Kieran Shannon: Cork and Limerick showed there's nowhere better than a rocking Croke Park

The counties served up a classic at HQ on Sunday. 

ROCKING: Never before in the history of the championship has there been a final between two teams that have already lost twice in the championship and who lost their opening game of the championship. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Maybe it’s because they’ve such little experience of it but  Limerick on Sunday broke from the custom of a side that has just lost.

Usually there has to be a cup on the line for the vanquished to remain on the field, an obligation they fulfil out of courtesy to the victors until their captain has finished his speech. Increasingly in recent years in the earlier rounds and provincial grounds some players stay on to oblige the autograph hunters who’ve snared them but they’re still in the minority. The group does not hang around. Once players have offered their congratulations to their markers, possibly a few other opponents in their orbit and an old teammate and friend from college they’ve intentionally sought out, they bolt for that tunnel and the sanctuary of the dressing room, their house private, especially when it’s a so-near so-far day like an All Ireland semi-final.