Persistence pays as Cork deny any edge to Limerick

FULLY FOCUSED: Cork’s Tim O’Mahony in possession during the Allianz Hurling League Division 1A match against Limerick at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Cork 1-16 Limerick 1-16

A crowd of 23,402 turned out at the Páirc for an early taste of championship hurling and left longing for those summer days amid incessant wind and drizzle.

The scoreline was a morsel of the 60 flags raised in last year’s Munster Championship classic but this contest was inevitably played on different terms. The sliotar was greasy and the surface slick but there was sufficient needle on view to spice up their May meeting.

The impossibility of precision was underlined by a whopping 91 turnovers, compared to 36 in their last Leeside clash. The yellow-card count was unchanged, though, as they shared 11 bookings. Also unchanged was Seán Stack brandishing two of those cards to the sideline with John Kiely miming a push on David Reidy to earn his yellow. 

Again, it came down to a stoppage-time call by Stack. As Brian Hayes was tangled up by Limerick limbs, the Dublin whistler awarded a free in. Cork, having given up an early five-point lead, completed their comeback from five down with Darragh Fitzgibbon’s 10th white flag.

In a stop-start finale, the seven minutes of added time had also expanded to 10 before the final whistle sounded.

“That was probably a game we would have lost before,” said Pat Ryan. “It shows the resilience and determination of our lads to really drive on. And, look, obviously we took a few injuries as well.

“That was a game that we needed not to lose and that was really positive for us because we’ve come down there a couple of times.

“Against Clare last year, obviously in the All-Ireland final, but also in the Championship out here and against Limerick in 2023 when we just needed a score to get over the line.

“In fairness, we won a great free and Darragh put it over the bar. But, look, both teams will be very happy, I think, with what their panels did.”

Kiely concurred with that sentiment as he praised Limerick’s endeavour on their first competitive outing of the year.

“Overall, I’m happy with the performance,” he said. “We probably put ourselves in a position to win the game and probably should have but it’s a good starting point for us. Everybody worked very, very hard. I couldn’t but commend the lads for what they did out there.

“It was difficult conditions and they kept at it. They were very, very honest and that’s all you can be.”

As Ryan alluded to, both sides left with injury concerns.

Pádraig Power and Conor Lehane both suffered dislocated shoulders. “I think it popped in handy enough,” Ryan said of Power’s first-half injury, “so I’d say he’s going to be out for four to six weeks anyway.”

For Limerick, Gearóid Hegarty’s hand wound forced him off early and will require stitches. William O’Donoghue was another not to return from a temporary withdrawal and Seán Finn didn’t reappear after half-time.

The Treaty began with seven of last year’s championship starters compared to Cork’s eight.

Debutant goalkeeper Jason Gillane landed two eye-catching frees while a new-look attack featured impressive performances from Patrick O’Donovan (0-4) and Aidan O’Connor (0-2).

On a night for defenders, Barry Murphy at four and Kyle Hayes at six put in strong shifts in new jerseys.

On the opposite side, Tim O’Mahony led the way while Ger Millerick, Cormac O’Brien, and Ethan Twomey made their cases for further opportunities.

The first half was a curious affair as Cork burst out of the traps with seven points inside 12 minutes but only scored once more before the break. They crowded bodies back to deny Limerick space but misplaced deliveries to outnumbered attackers left them devoid of a scoring threat in the subsequent spell.

The most notable instance saw Kyle Hayes hoover up a loose clearance and locate William O’Donoghue, undetected by Rebel radar, for the 19th-minute goal.

“They got on top of us a small bit and we lost our shape and probably didn’t have enough structure in our half-forward line,” said Ryan. “The goal — we’ll look into that, what was the reason. That rattled us a small bit. We were seven-two up at that stage.

“There’s different aspects that we look at as regards our tackling or hand-passing out of the tackle and stuff like that. But really delighted with our lads the way they came back into it to draw that match.”

Having trailed 1-7 to 0-8 at half-time and conceded four of the next five points, Shane Barrett’s goal from a fluid passing move was Cork’s first score from play in over half an hour to spark their comeback.

They did it almost entirely through Fitzgibbon’s frees, plus two from Brian Hayes. One of those was deflected over from a Fitzgibbon placed ball which dropped short and may even have come off Kyle Hayes’ hurley.

“We struggled a little bit in the first quarter,” said Kiely, “to be expected, possibly, with Cork having played last week and us not having a game per se. We just had a light challenge match. It’s all about how we respond to those scenarios and I thought we kept our heads, worked our way into it slowly, and we were on a continual upward trajectory through the first half, which is pleasing to see.

“Commendations to both sides. They worked really hard, kept themselves in the game when the opposition was on top of them, and a good game, I think. A good battle.”

Both face Tipperary next, with Cork enjoying two weekends off before their trip to Thurles.

Scorers for Cork: D Fitzgibbon (0-10, 9 frees); S Barrett (1-0); B Hayes (0-2); T O’Mahony (free), E Twomey, S Kingston, L Meade (0-1 each).

Scorers for Limerick: A English (3 frees), P O’Donovan (1 free) (0-4 each); W O’Donoghue (1-0); J Gillane (2 frees), C Lynch, A O’Connor (0-2 each); D Byrnes (free), S O’Brien (0-1 each).

CORK: P Collins; N O’Leary, G Millerick, E Roche; T O’Mahony, C Joyce, C O’Brien; L Meade, E Twomey; D Fitzgibbon, S Barrett, S Kingston; B Hayes, P Power, A Connolly.

Subs: P Horgan for Power (17, inj), M Coleman for Kingston (49), C Lehane for Connolly (59), B Roche for Lehane (62, inj), R Cotter for Barrett (67).

LIMERICK: J Gillane; S Finn, D Morrissey, B Murphy; D Byrnes, K Hayes, C Coughlan; A English, W O’Donoghue; G Hegarty, C Lynch, A O’Connor; D Ó Dálaigh, S O’Brien, P O’Donovan.

Subs: D Reidy for Hegarty (15, temp), F O’Connor for Finn (h-t), C Scully for Byrnes (45), S Flanagan for Ó Dálaigh (49), M Houlihan for O’Donovan (50), E Stokes for O’Donoghue (57, temp).

Referee: S Stack (Dublin).