Unloved Cork make their point

Limerick 0-08 Cork 3-17

Hardly the most revolutionary statement since Galileo outraged the Vatican, but give a man a break as he looks for a seam of silver in the darkness of the coalface. The training run which masqueraded as a Munster championship match on Saturday evening isn’t going to yield much in the way of insight.

Cork vaporised Limerick in their Munster SFC opener, and the game’s context was more interesting than its vital statistics.

On the car journey up to Limerick traffic wasn’t an issue rolling through potential bottlenecks like Charleville, which is hardly a surprise. The soundtrack to the journey up, however, was a series of radio pundits heaping the underachiever tag on Cork, and bemoaning their inability to press home their advantage when they got on top of teams.

What to make, then, of an 18-point win for the Leesiders?

Well, Cork’s demolition of a poor Limerick side will hardly win them more friends. It was the kind of game that yields depressing statistics for the losers — eight scores in 70 minutes; a 10-point deficit at half-time — while earning equally few plaudits for the winners.

Cork’s Michael Shields certainly wasn’t guilty of overplaying the win, admitting to surprise in the visitors’ dressing-room at the poverty of the Limerick challenge.

“We’d always expect a tough game coming up here. I suppose they didn’t kick on really and once we got the few goals there before half-time the game was dead and buried. The goals came from the back, from being worked up the pitch. I thought was a good part of our game, working the ball up the field from the backs. We got the three goals that way.”

The debutants’ displays were Shields’ other highlight: “Damien [Cahalane] has been flying it for a couple of years, and it was only a matter of time before he started playing for Cork. James Loughrey has been a revelation since he came down from Antrim and it’s good that we have competition for places. Clare in three weeks’ time will be another good test for us.”

The goals alluded to were the highlight of a dull 70 minutes. On 22 minutes Daniel Goulding’s high delivery was fisted home by newcomer Brian Hurley – 1-4 to 0-2. Five minutes later another new face, John O’Rourke, steered a calm shot through a forest of legs for Cork’s second goal: Goulding got a touch on the ball en route but it seemed over the line when he did.

Finally, the emphatic knock-out punch: Tomás Clancy and John O’Rourke combined to free Pearse O’Neill, who rampaged up the middle before burying Cork’s third goal.

Ten minutes. Three goals. It was 3-4 to 0-3 at half-time and, as Cork manager Conor Counihan mentioned afterwards, that was a considerable buffer for the visitors all through the second half.

“It’s a job done from our point of view. We started reasonably well though we’d probably be disappointed we didn’t get more scores on the board early on. We got the goals at crucial stages which left us with a bit of comfort all the time, but we’d have plenty to improve on.

“We’re conscious that we’re going to Ennis now against a Clare team which would have learned a lot from us in their Munster final against us last year. That’s where our focus is now and we have to get a better performance than tonight.”

It’s doubtful that even Clare manager Mick O’Dwyer, though, will be able to kindle a firestorm of interest in that game, particularly if there’s any hint it may resemble Saturday night.

The man who summed up the evening was Limerick manager Maurice Horan: “People talk about Division 1 and Division 4, and I don’t like to talk about that because I think Limerick can scale up and play better in the championship against teams from higher divisions, but that was Division 1 and Division 4.”

Counihan will be pleased that his side overcame the late withdrawal of Aidan Walsh, who was given until the last minute to prove his fitness, and Eoin Cadogan’s unavailability.

He indicated both would be ready for the Clare game and he’s likely to give them game time. On Saturday night Alan O’Connor came in for Walsh, a like for like swap, but Cadogan was replaced in the corner by Paudie Kissane, who was moved from his wing to accommodate Loughrey. As a result there was some space down that side for Limerick early on as both men settled in, but that ray of hope didn’t make it to the half-time break, much like the contest itself.

Bigger tests ahead for Cork, then, but they’re aware of that. They know you must win big games to influence people, never mind getting them to love you.

Scorers for Limerick: E O’Connor 0-3 (0-1 f), G Collins, S Buckley, S Lucey, M Sheehan and J Galvin 0-1 each

Scorers for Cork: D Goulding 0-5 (1f), B Hurley and J O’Rourke 1-1 each, M Collins 0-3, P O’Neill 1-0, D Cahalane (0-1 f, 0-1 45), P Kerrigan and F Goold 0-2 each, C Sheehan 0-1

Subs for Limerick: D O’Connor for B O’Brien, M Sheehan for I Corbett and S O’Carroll for T Lee (all ht); S Lucey for S Buckley (52), L O’Dwyer for M O’Riordan (54).

Subs for Cork: N O’Leary for G Canty, F Goold for P Kelly and D O’Connor for C Sheehan (all 50), A O’Sullivan for P O’Neill (54), M Collins for P Kerrigan (58).

Referee: Michael Duffy (Sligo).