Ring brace and safe hands of O’Halloran see Cork through
A highly rated Limerick side came in search of their first win over the Leesiders since 1984, and while they matched their opponents in most areas, they paid the price for failing to register a goal.
Ken O’Halloran was unbeatable for Cork, making a number of crucial saves while team captain Niall Horgan, Brendan Coleman and Peter Cronin were others to impress.
Limerick were a huge disappointment. After a very good opening quarter, they failed to sustain the effort and only Denis Moloney, Seamus Hickey, Peter Cregan and James Ryan can look back on this game with any degree of satisfaction.
The decision of the Limerick mentors to take off captain Michael Fitzgerald and, in particular, Brendan Hayes who scored three points from play, was baffling to say the least.
Limerick led after a minute with a Brendan Hayes point and while Cork were level by the fifth minute, the Shannonsiders, on top at midfield and halfback, ensured a plentiful supply to their forwards and stormed into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after ten minutes.
Two solid defences meant a shortage of scores and long periods went by without either side registering. But an improved Cork attack managed two points to trail 0-5 to 0-3 after 27 minutes.
Then came a controversial moment when a very fussy referee penalised Limerick’s James Ryan, wrongly, and from the resultant free by Shane O’Neill, Brendan Ring found the Limerick net to give Cork the lead for the first time.
However, it was short-lived and the Shannonsiders finished the half well and deservedly led 0-7 to 1-3 after the impressive Brendan Hayes and Michael Noonan had a point apiece.
There was still no improvement in the standard of play in the early minutes of the second half and both sides hit three wides each before James Ryan stretched the Limerick lead with a point in the 38th minute.
Cork were in need of a score and it came following good work by Kevin Canty who put his school colleague, Cathrach Keane, through and he in turn passed to Brendan Ring who shot low to the net from five metres out.
That finally settled Cork and the scores began to flow and by the end of the third quarter, they led 2-7 to 0-10.
Limerick made three substitutions in quick succession in the hope of remedying the situation but a resolute Cork defence in which keeper O’Halloran was unbeatable kept the Limerick forwards in a tight grip and the Shannonsiders went 14 minutes without a score before Peter Cregan pointed a free in the 54th minute.
The closing minutes were exciting as Limerick battled bravely to bridge that 20-year gap but they never look like getting that all-important goal which might have made the difference.
Scorers for Cork: B Ring 2-0; P Cronin 0-6 (0-4 frees); F O’Leary, G O’Leary, C Keane 0-1 each.
Limerick: M Noonan 0-4 (frees); P Cregan (frees), B Hayes 0-3 each; J Ryan, D Moloney, L O’Dwyer 0-1 each.
CORK: K O’Halloran, B Coleman, N Horgan, M McCarthy, M O’Connor, P Cotter, S O’Neill, R Conway, G O’Leary, F O’Leary, C Keane, R O’Connell, P Cronin, K Canty, B Long. Subs. D O’Callaghan for O’Connell; E Cadogan for O’Connor.
LIMERICK: G O’Mahony, Denis Moloney, D Gardiner, S Hickey, P Cregan, Damien Moloney, W McNamara, David Moloney, D Hanley, B Hayes, M Noonan, B O’Sullivan, M Fitzgerald, A Brennan, J Ryan. Subs. S Nix for Brennan, D O’Sullivan for Fitzgerald, L O’Dwyer for Hanley, E Ryan for Hayes.
Referee : A Heagney (Clare)
