Páirc life — the alternate ending

A joyous red tide of humanity on the pitch afterwards, the skirl of the bagpipes, the Bould Thady Quill rambling and roving and the silverware being hoisted by — naturally — the home captain.

There was never going to be any other kind of sendoff for Páirc Uí Chaoimh, was there? Just for the sake of argument, though, let’s imagine there was.

Let’s imagine that the game-breaking first goal went Limerick’s way, not Cork’s way. A butterfly flaps its wings in Ballintemple and suddenly the dominoes fall in a different direction.

Yes, Cork might still have won had Limerick scored the first goal. That’s arguable one way or the other and it’s an argument that’s worth having. After all, what’s the point of attending or watching a big match if we don’t argue the sundry tosses ‘til the cows come home? What is inarguable, on the other hand, is this much: Limerick were never going to win if Cork scored the first goal. Thus it proved.

It was the timing of the goal as much as the fact of it that was the killer. Facing the wind, hanging in stoutly, 0-18 apiece with a quarter of the match to go and along comes Seamus Harnedy. At one stroke Limerick’s equilibrium and approach vanish on the breeze blowing into the Blackrock End. They’re forced to chase the game and, because they’re forced to chase it, two mishaps occur that finish them off altogether.

Exhibit A: 56 minutes elapsed and Wayne McNamara and Patrick Horgan exchange points to keep a goal between the sides. Paul Browne charges forward. He might opt for taking his score while he can but, knowing that a fuss-free point is no longer acceptable, he risks taking the sliotar into traffic, wher he is beset by three Cork defenders and loses possession. Moments later Bill Cooper has the ball over the bar at the other end.

A two-point turnaround.

Exhibit B: 64 minutes gone and Seamus Hickey sallies forward. He could flake it long and pray for the best but, again, Limerick need something more calculated than hit and hope at this stage. In his attempt to be constructive, Hickey tries to take the ball past Daniel Kearney but loses possession. Moments later Paudie O’Sullivan has it in the net. Three-point turnaround. The curtain falls.

It was an engaging game and the scoreline didn’t tell the full story. That’s the thing about scorelines. While they’re not deceitful jades, sometimes they’re economical with the truth. This was a two-score game rather than a six-point game; there is a difference. Limerick hurled well and Cork scored the goals. That was the other difference.

The visitors’ problem was that they needed every chip to land face-up. That meant Browne and Hickey not being caught in possession. It meant James Ryan not fading after his energetic start. It meant the underdogs not driving four wides in the opening seven minutes. It meant Shane Dowling converting his first two attempts from placed balls instead of putting them astray. And it meant Dowling not turning back onto his favourite left side — the trick that had worked so well against Tipperary — with that close-range opportunity in the 24th minute, thereby giving Shane O’Neill, who stayed on his feet and didn’t dive in, the time to get a crucial touch.

Not that Dowling need feel guilty in any way. He didn’t drop his head, as many another youngster might, and he finished with three points from play to his name. It was an uneven afternoon’s work but a worthy and honest one. Limerick didn’t have enough Shane Dowlings on Sunday.

Still, in the context of Limerick championship defeats over the past 15 years, this was a remarkably painless reverse. TJ Ryan’s men enter an All-Ireland quarter-final with confidence undimmed. But one caveat surrounds their finishing tally, and by implication the contest’s true value: Limerick are not a 0-24 per match team.

Cork didn’t do anything spectacular to win but rarely looked as if they wouldn’t, and got there in some comfort in the end. Nor should the significance of a first provincial title in eight years be overlooked. Even a Jaguar needs a change of oil every so often.

In the third year of the old king’s new reign, it was time for them to start winning silverware once more. They’ve started alright.

A Cork/Kilkenny final — going on the frequency of the counties’ post-1966 September collisions, one is six years overdue — now heaves into view. Rather more appetisingly, a Cork/Tipperary All-Ireland semi-final has become a distinct possibility. Whoever they meet next, Rebel partisans are entitled to take heart from the scoring figures. In their first four championship matches last year, Cork hit 0-23, 0-15, 0-19 and 1-24 whereas in their first four outings this year they’ve hit 1-21, 0-28, 2-23 and 2-24. They’re averaging an additional six points a game and are scoring more every day they take the field.

With five points from six shots, Conor Lehane showed more than the mere flashes referred to here on Saturday. And Cork also have Alan Cadogan, who nailed his first three attempts. Cadogan’s biggest virtue, and a medium-term vice in the making, is that he always goes for his own score. It is the greatest instinct a forward can have. But he’ll soon be getting to the stage where game management has to be taken into account. Tossing around a few passes instead of taking on the corner-back every time would add an extra layer to his game.

A rumbustious weekend began with Clare’s demise and the return of Wexford to the big table, and praise is due to both counties. As regards the Banner it was, frankly, a dreadful attempt at a defence of their title; happily they redeemed themselves with the manner of their exit. Having expired in their flip-flops against Cork they expired — eventually — with their Doc Martens on in Wexford Park, and were carried from the arena on their shield, sword still clutched in their cold dead hand, this summer’s equivalent of 2013 Kilkenny.

As for their conquerors, they may have wrecked every neutral’s head with those wides — at times it was eerily like watching squandermaniac Wexford of the early 1990s — but they got there. To dismiss it as “only a qualifier” misses the point. For Liam Dunne’s youngsters, this was an All- Ireland final. Cork beat a team they were largely expected to beat; Wexford beat the MacCarthy Cup holders, overcoming their own inexperience, their own inaccuracy and their own fears. What was a small step for Cork, who didn’t breach a psychological barrier on Sunday because Cork never have to, was a giant leap for Wexford. True, one of these results will matter come All Ireland semi-final time next month and one won’t, and it’s not hard to identify which is which. But let that pass. Hurling is always in a better place when the strawberries are in bloom. Nowlan Park will be rocking on Saturday night.