Limerick flex muscles in statement win over rival Rebels

John Kiely saw his side blow Cork out of it at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday.

WIZARD: Limerick’s Cian Lynch celebrates after Aaron Gillane scored his side's opening goal. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie

Sun, 18 May, 2025 - 17:45

John Fogarty

LIMERICK 3-26 CORK 1-16

Like a ringmaster after Limerick’s win over Waterford, John Kiely called the crowd to roll up and his troop produced quite the show in front of the 42,447 attendance in in TUS Gaelic Grounds.

These two could well meet here again in a Munster final in three weeks but the psychological blow was well and truly landed by the hosts who were 15 points up at half-time, 2-18 to 0-9, and finished another point ahead as they secured their All-Ireland berth.

It wasn’t a complete procession in the second half but Cork were given a sharp reminder of the pain they inflicted not once, but twice on Limerick last year. And oh how that All-Ireland semi-final loss smarted, the five-in-a-row aspirations ended with that two-point loss.

It was obvious Limerick’s gander was up from early door. In less than three minutes, Limerick were five points to the good. Tom Morrissey sent over a brace of points and then Aaron Gillane found the net having exploited a slip by Niall O’Leary after rescuing the ball from going wide. He then jigged past Ciarán Joyce and dispatched the ball passed Patrick Collins.

It truly was a taste of what was to come. Cork answered with three points but before Declan Dalton retired with a leg injury Limerick had another sight of goal only for Barry Nash to put the ball wide.

With four points in succession, Limerick stormed into a six-point lead. The amount of ball landing on top of the Cork full-backs was causing so much bother and Gillane penalised a couple of infringements while Adam English opened his ledger and Morrissey added a third.

In the Limerick half, Kyle Hayes performed a beautiful dispossession to deny Shane Barrett a run on goal. It was one of the many individual battles Limerick were winning and after a Brian Hayes point they hit Cork for another four scores without response.

By the time, Nickie Quaid kept out Patrick Horgan in the 23rd minute, the margin was eight points.

Cian Lynch was weaving wonderful link play and he was integral to recognising a goal was on for English in the 27th minute that put Limerick 13 up. He added a point seconds later in a gorgeous 60 seconds of play for the two-time hurler of the year.

The hits just kept on coming for Cork. David Reidy became the final Limerick forward to score from play in the 29th minute and Diarmaid Byrnes their ninth scorer in total just before half-time.

As it happened: Limerick hammer Cork, Tipperary defeat Waterford, Clare out

Fifteen points down, Cork were in damage limitation mode and were far tighter on the likes of Lynch and Hegarty. Cormac O’Brien was winning plenty of ball and another substitute Seamus Harnedy sent over a couple of points.

Cork strung together four points between the 45th and 49th minutes to offset the gap to 11 but Limerick were still finding so much space on Cork’s right flank. A Horgan goal from a free in the 61st minute made it a 10-point game only for Gillane to cancel it out with a green flag from a penalty he won against Eoin Downey.

By the end, Limerick’s catalogue of scorers had jumped to 11, their point more than made.

Scorers for Limerick: A. Gillane (2-7, 1-0 pen, 0-6 frees); A. English (1-2); T. Morrissey (0-5); G. Hegarty (0-3); C. O’Neill, P. Casey (0-2 each); M. Casey, S. O’Brien, C. Lynch, D. Reidy, D. Byrnes (0-1 each).

Scorers for Cork: P. Horgan (1-9, 1-8 frees); S. Harnedy (0-2); M. Coleman, R. Downey, B. Hayes, S. Barrett, B. Roche (0-1 each).

LIMERICK: N. Quaid; M. Casey, D. Morrissey, S. Finn; D. Byrnes, K. Hayes, B. Nash; A. English, W. O’Donoghue; G. Hegarty, C. Lynch (c), T. Morrissey; A. Gillane, S. O’Brien, D. Reidy.

Subs for Limerick: D. O’Donovan for W. O’Donoghue (temp 37-40); S. Flanagan for S. O’Brien, C. O’Neill for T. Morrissey (both 51); P. Casey for D. Reidy (58); C. Coughlan for M. Casey (inj 67); A. O’Connor for D. Byrnes (68); B. Murphy for D. Morrissey (temp 70+3 to f-t).

CORK: P. Collins; N. O’Leary, E. Downey, S. O’Donoghue; M. Coleman, C. Joyce, R. Downey (c); T. O’Mahony, E. Twomey; D. Dalton, D. Fitzgibbon, S. Barrett; P. Horgan, A. Connolly, B. Hayes.

Subs for Cork: B. Roche for D. Dalton (inj 8); C. O’Brien for R. Downey, S. Harnedy for E. Twomey (both h-t); D. Cahalane for N. O’Leary (inj 55); R. O’Flynn for A. Connolly (66).

Referee: L. Gordon (Galway).