Allen: Cork not good enough

Cork will not retain their Munster SHC if they repeat yesterday’s semi-final display against Limerick, according to selector John Allen.

Allen admitted that their only objective at the Gaelic Grounds was to secure a final place against Waterford or Tipperary next month and he was quite satisfied to have achieved that.

But considerable improvement will be necessary, he declared if the provincial process is to be taken a stage further.

“That performance will not be good enough for either Tipperary or Waterford. We will now be going into the final as underdogs and that will suit us.

“We are, obviously, delighted to have won here today and it was a game that we were very wary of beforehand.

“But we came through and we will, hopefully, after next weekend’s club games, have a clear run to the final in terms of preparation.’’

Meanwhile, one of the main talking points after yesterday’s showdown on the Ennis Road was the re-introduction of Brian Corcoran to real Munster championship hurling and his subsequent wonder point when he was on his knees.

He was delighted to be back in the frame although he did admit to being a little tense beforehand.

“Limerick has always been a bit of a graveyard for us throughout the nineties so we knew we were going to have to graft it out today.

“I was a bit tense but as Kid Cronin used to say years ago if you were not nervous you should not be there. It was nice to get a taste of it and to get the point.’’

Another major source of debate afterwards was the display of Bride Rovers Brian Murphy in the full-back line and his calm, assured performance was one of the real plus points for manager Donal O’Grady.

Murphy kept a tight rein on Limerick dangerman Andrew O’Shaughnessy, rendering him scoreless over the 70 minutes and in the process firmly nailed down his place on the final starting 15.