Cork had no problem beating Limerick in the Munster senior hurling league

By Michael Moynihan, Limerick.

Limerick 1-19 Cork 7-22

A comfortable win for Cork over Limerick in this Munster senior hurling league clash in the Gaelic Grounds with 1,625 in attendance.

Cork started with the breeze, but Limerick began brightly with an early goal from Barry Nash, who finished from a tight angle after two minutes.

Luke Meade’s alertness on seven minutes gave Cork their first goal: 1-2 to 1-1 on seven minutes.

Driven on by a dominant half-back line, the visitors added a second goal on 15 minutes - the dangerous Alan Cadogan gathered on the right, swept infield and billowed the net, 2-5 to 1-3.

The game loosened up, with Limerick’s Kevin O’Brien and Cork’s Shane Kingston hitting points from play as Cork maintained their lead until the 29th minute.

Darragh Fitzgibbon then soloed through the Limerick defence and passed to Kingston, who got Cork’s third goal. Cork added a flurry of late points to go in 3-12 to 1-9 ahead at the half.

Cork resumed with Horgan’s first goal, a snap shot after good work by Cadogan, putting eleven points between the sides.

Though Limerick made sweeping changes, the game was too far gone for them to retrieve, and on fifty minutes Horgan duly added a second goal, finishing a rebound from a Cadogan shot.

Cadogan set up Cork’s sixth three minutes later with a pass to his clubmate, Shane Kingston, and a seventh came for sub. Michael O’Halloran when he took a neat pass from Horgan. The eventual winning margin was 21 points.

Scorers for Limerick: R. Lynch (0-11, 0-8 frees); B. Nash (1-0); K. O’Brien (0-3); A. Dempsey, D. Byrnes, P. Browne, D. Dempsey, J. Ryan (0-1).

Scorers for Cork: P. Horgan (2-5, 0-3 frees); A. Cadogan (1-4) ; S. Kingston (2-2); L. Meade, M. O’Halloran (1-0), B. Cooper (0-3); M. Coleman, R. O’’Flynn, D. Fitzgibbon (0-2 each); B. Hennessy, D. Kearney (0-1 each).

LIMERICK: B. Hennessy, T. Condon, R. English, S. O’Brien, D. Morrissey, B. O’Connell, S. Cahill, D. O’Donovan, P. Ryan, R. Lynch, A. Dempsey, R. Hanley, C. Ryan, B. Nash, K. O’Brien.

Subs: M. Casey for Condon (inj., 28); D. Dempsey for A. Dempsey, D. Byrnes for Morrissey, J. Ryan for O’Donovan (all HT); P. Browne for P. Ryan (47).

CORK: A. Nash, C. Spillane, S. McDonnell, D. Griffin, C. O’Leary, L. McLoughlin, M. Coleman, D. Kearney, D. Fitzgibbon, B. Cooper, L. Meade, S. Kingston, A. Cadogan, P. Horgan, R. O’Flynn.

Subs: D. Brosnan for Meade (52); C. Murphy for Kearney and M. O’Halloran for Cadogan (both 58); J. Sheehan for McDonnell (60); B. Hennessy for Fitzgibbon (62).

Referee: P. Kelly (Tipperary).