Limerick war over, but Cork take spoils

Cork 3-20 Limerick 3-17

“We have to put it behind us. I thought this was a positive performance tonight, we scored 3-17 which was good; the negative is we didn’t win the game, a lot of work to be done.”

Ryan was speaking after his side had lost what was an open and entertaining challenge in Charleville on Saturday to mark the opening of the new covered stand and excellent extended club facilities, a game Limerick would probably have won had they taken all their chances.

Yes they scored 3-17, 2-2 of that pilfered by the flying Graeme Mulcahy in the opening 20 minutes, as Limerick raced into a 2-6 to 0-5 lead. A switch of markers on Mulcahy snuffed out that threat, however, Conor O’Sullivan doing a much tighter job, while Killian Burke also benefited, doing better in the right corner.

But what Limerick missed — 18 wides in total, 11 in the second-half alone, along with several poor options chosen by various players when points were there for the taking. “We had a few bad wides, then went for goals when it wasn’t on,” admitted TJ — “You’re not going to beat Anthony Nash from 30 yards. Definitely we have things to work on.”

Mention of Nash, it wasn’t just his shot-stopping that impressed; even in conditions made challenging by the heavy showers, using his controversial patented technique the Kanturk man slotted two superb penalties for Cork, each at a vital time.

The first was in the 22nd minute, brought Cork right back into a game threatening to run away from them, made it 1-5 to 2-6 and set the home side on a point-scoring run that saw them trail by just a point at the break (1-11 to 2-9).

The second was in the 58th minute when Limerick again looked to have taken control, this time courtesy of a rocket-shot goal from full-forward Kevin Downes; again Nash’s penalty reply proved unstoppable. Ryan, however, has no problem with Nash’s style. “It’s a difficult thing to do, I think he should be applauded for it. Lift a ball on the 20m line then hit it six or seven yards ahead of you, that’s not easy, it looks an awful lot harder than it is.”

A reasonably pleased Limerick manager then, even more so considering the return of two long-term injury victims, Declan Hannon and Seamus Hickey, both of whom looked hungry, though both also showed signs of their long layoff.

Even happier was Cork supremo Jimmy Barry-Murphy. Where Limerick were at practically full championship strength, Cork were still experimenting, giving a run to some who hadn’t seen much league action. They impressed too, none more so than Aidan Walsh, with 1-2 from midfield (all those scores really well taken). “I thought he was very impressive; it’s something we’re trying to work on, his hurling. He hasn’t had a lot of hurling over the last few months, couldn’t but be pleased with it. He took his goal well and his work-rate was phenomenal. We’ve been playing him half-forward but felt maybe midfield would be more suitable to him. Time will tell but he certainly has the engine, playing with the footballers he can cover massive ground. He’s a huge man and we saw tonight, he could be a great asset to us.”

It wasn’t just Aidan, however, with wing-backs Mark Ellis and Cormac Murphy also impressing, along with the other midfielder, Brian Lawton, and Alan Cadogan up front. “Mark was outstanding I thought, very promising over the last few months and he played equally well here. Brian Lawton came into the game very much in the second half. We have some very good players we’ve brought in, I’m very pleased for them. They’re working very hard, putting in huge effort; I saw something from those lads tonight that showed me they deserved to be on this panel. We’re going the right way, training is going well. We didn’t play well during the league, I think we all felt that, but we feel it’s coming together now. With better ground conditions, hurling has improved an awful lot.”

Scorers for Cork: A Nash 2-0 (pens.); A Walsh 1-2; C McCarthy 0-4 (four frees); A Cadogan 0-3; M Ellis 0-2; C Murphy 0-2; B Lawton 0-2; R O’Shea 0-2; B Corry, S Moylan, B Hartnett, 0-1 each.

Scorers for Limerick: G Mulcahy 2-2; K Downes 1-1; T Ryan 0-4; D Hannon 0-4 (three frees); D Reidy 0-3 (frees); D O’Grady 0-2; G O’Mahony 0-1 (free).

CORK: A Nash; C O’Sullivan, E Keane, K Burke; M Ellis, W Egan, C Murphy; B Lawton, A Walsh; C McCarthy, B Corry, R O’Shea; S Moylan, A Cadogan, B Hartnett.

Subs: L McLoughlin for Egan (49).

LIMERICK: N Quaid; S Walsh, R McCarthy, T Condon; P O’Brien, W McNamara, G O’Mahony; P Browne, T Ryan; C Allis, D O’Grady, D Reidy; G Mulcahy, K Downes, S Tobin.

Subs: C King for Condon (inj. 16); D Hannon for Allis (35); S Hickey for Reidy (47); D Morrissey for McNamara (59); T Quaid for Tobin (65).

Referee: J Owens (Wexford).