DONAL O'GRADY: Cork couldn’t match Limerick’s impact off the bench

Donal O'Grady

All any manager requires from a team is that they give of their best. Throughout this Championship Cork were never found wanting in this regard.

In Munster their best was good enough to win them the title. However, against Limerick it fell a little short.

This Cork team were well managed and well coached.

They shut Limerick down for long spells last Sunday. They forced them into striking for long-range scores early in the second half as the Rebels got to grips with the Treaty system. Cork led by six points with nine minutes of ordinary time left. But they failed to score from play in the final 12 minutes whereas Limerick tacked on seven points in the same period.

Daniel Kearney had been a thorn in Limerick’s side from the beginning and the Treaty half-backline were unable to deal with his movement and superb link play. However, he had run himself into the ground by the hour mark and his absence for the closing minutes cost Cork dearly.

Limerick’s substitutions were like for like with the replacements slotting into their system. Cork had no player to replicate Kearney’s role of holding possession, scoring from long-range or drawing defenders and setting up scores for others.

There was only one major question mark hanging over Cork all season and that was the quality of their bench in relation to the other teams.

Limerick’s bench was much more experienced than Cork’s and they were comfortable with the roles they took up coming on for the last 15 or 20 minutes. Those replacements notched 1-4 from play.

Cork introduced three replacements into their attack. Each tried very hard but only Jack O’Connor scored and that was near the finish, when the game was already in the bag for Limerick.

It is now a 20-a-side game played over an average of 75 minutes. The introduction of Shane Dowling and Pat Ryan, who brought pace and enthusiasm, gave Limerick an impetus for the final 10 minutes that Cork needed but could not match off the bench.

That most fickle of gentlemen, Mr Momentum, who I have mentioned many times, switched sides, nailed his colours to the mast and stuck with the boys in green for the rest of the game.

Cork’s defence was under severe pressure in the final 12 minutes. They faced wave after wave of Treaty attacks.

When this happens in any sport, an intervention of some sort is needed to stem the flow. Cork needed some score, any score, to halt Limerick’s gallop during this spell. However, they were unable to secure enough possession to threaten the Limerick goal.

Limerick centre-back Declan Hannon came into the game strongly in that crucial last 10 minutes when Cork went the aerial route down the centre, rather than going down the wings where they had earlier success.

Once the game went to extra-time Limerick had the upper hand. Cork’s defence made basic errors under the high ball. The requirement for defenders in these situations is to block the ball going through. In extra-time, Limerick’s first two long puckouts weren’t dealt with. These led to two scores and the writing was on the wall for the Rebels.

The penalty, which ended the game as a contest, resulted from another Limerick long puckout down the middle.

Many defenders attempt to catch the ball rather than use the safer tactic of blocking the ball with one’s stick. The aforementioned Dowling ran on to each of those deliveries with great success. If they had been blocked they might have provided Cork with three badly needed opportunities to counter-attack and prevented crucial Limerick scores.

A few final thoughts. This championship format was touted as helping the game at club level. It is now clear there will be little club championship activity for most counties during the summer for the next two years. Club activity will only resume when counties bow out of the inter-county competition.

In previous years, the club championship ran in tandem with the inter-county scene.

Some neutral patrons would attend club games to see if any talent was emerging for the county team.

There is now a situation where supporters will have been used to a diet of top-class inter-county fare and may see club games as poor spectacles by comparison.

Attendances are already falling for club fixtures. Many will remember the hype the rugby authorities built up around the AIL club competitions. Rugby club action is now compared to the top professional game with devastating consequences.

Player welfare has to be at the top of the Croke Park agenda. The spectacle of amateur players being helped off the field with cramp, in spite of their superb fitness levels, does nothing to improve the image of the association.

There is no extra-time at provincial final level but it must be played at semi-final level. This is a strange anomaly. There is a three-week gap to the final. Why couldn’t the following weekend be provisionally set aside for a replay?

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