Second goal the turning point, says Goulding

ALREADY this year they have been masters of the spring stage.

Yesterday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Daniel Goulding and Colm O’Neill moved the show seamlessly onto the summer stage.

They burned up the colleges circuit with Cork IT earlier this season, dovetailing to tear apart third-level defences and garner a historic Sigerson Cup title. Now the targets have been set higher as they aim to prosper in the inter-county arena.

Already this season there have been flashes of brilliance with O’Neill coolly slotting a ‘45 against Kerry in Killarney and Goulding smacking over five points against the Kingdom in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. But yesterday in the Munster final they elevated their contribution to a new plateau.

With Cork listing badly in the second half as Limerick’s sheer intensity threatened to overwhelm them, Graham Canty floated in a perceptive ball in the 52nd minute.

O’Neill, new to the game as a second-half substitute, rose to palm it down and Goulding was alert to crash Cork’s second goal to the net. It was the moment that ignited Cork’s challenge, and by full-time Goulding had inked 1-3 to his name over 70 minutes with O’Neill snatching a valuable point during his brief cameo.

“Colm in fairness knocked it straight into my path,” remarked Goulding afterwards.

“It was great to see it go in and it was a turning point for us after that. but in fairness they came straight back at us and got a point to level it. We’ve been thought never to give up and that’s something we did again today. We set out at the start of the year to win everything we could and that’s kept going now.”

For O’Neill this keeps the ball rolling on a magical season that already yielded Sigerson and All-Ireland U21 medals.

“It’s been a dream really. The lads just told me going on to give it a lash. They said keep running and showing for the ball, and if I got an opportunity to go for it.

“I came on in the last 10 minutes when the legs were tiring so when you’ve fresh legs, it helps. I’m very happy with how it went.”

The final emotions were all positive but it had been a ferocious struggle to generate that outcome. Cork were chasing shadows for the first-half as Limerick’s dominance encompassed every area of the pitch.

Goulding was quick to point out that there was only one side producing championship intensity in their play at the start.

“The intensity and work rate wasn’t there from us. It’s something we always try to have at the top notch but today it just wasn’t there in the first-half. We knew ourselves at half-time. There was nothing that needed to be said.

“But we’d to go up to the Gaelic Grounds last year and needed two goals to beat them. So anyone who underestimates Limerick is foolish.

“I can’t praise Limerick enough. They came down with a game plan and were incredibly intense. In fairness to Limerick they kept working well in the second-half and we were lucky to get out of here.”