Cork find steel, not sparkle, to get over the line against Limerick

STEEL NOT SPARKLE: Cork manager Ben O'Connor and his Limerick counterpart John Kiely during the Munster SHC match between at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Cork 2-22 Limerick 1-23

Fits and starts was somehow sufficient. The red corner was without its usual flamboyancy. Flamboyancy was not required. Is pragmatism Cork’s new colour of preference?

If the job continues to get done, there’ll nobody in red give a flying fiddlers about how the victories are accumulated.

You see, the Cork journeys of the last two summers were glorious for their enjoyment and exoticness. The respective journeys finishing in tears and trauma means getting up the road no longer holds fascination. Fixation is exclusively centred on bringing something back down the road.

Before we dive into yesterday’s 80 minutes and start pulling all manner of implications and interpretations, a word of loud appreciation for a contest that was bruising and brilliantly claustrophobic. The exhibition in hooking should be packaged and posted around for no other reason than to educate the next generation and those guiding them.

We continue to be absolutely spoiled by these two market leaders.

The bodies were still piling in the seventh minute of injury-time. The last Limerick free, in search of a winning goal, was delayed by over two minutes as Rob Downey, laid out, received treatment. He was eventually helped to the safety of the sideline.

Ciarán Joyce had to be helped off after only five minutes. A positive result to his knee scan is imperative to the latest summer journey. Alan Connolly had to depart for eight minutes after finding the net. Seán O’Donoghue, at one point, also appeared stricken for the soft seats.

Cork bodies, healthy or otherwise, were hard spot in the opening 20 minutes. Almost non-existent for the entirety of this period and suffering another notable dip in the 20 minutes after Cian Lynch’s 50th minute dismissal, three injury-time moments of nerve and steel delivered Cork a fourth championship win over their great rivals across the last five motorway collisions of these green and red arctic trucks.

Composure emanated through the red corner in second-half injury-time. Rashness was Limerick’s regretful injury-time theme.

Mike Casey’s thundering hit on Darragh Fitzgibbon allowed Alan Connolly to bridge the nerve-fraying eight-minute gap to their most recent white flag and, in the process, achieve stalemate A senseless Kyle Hayes pull on Mark Coleman gifted Cork the opportunity to double their lead. The difficulty of the free was no gift. Connolly was magnificent in his execution. Fitzgibbon subsequently drifted into space to seal victory.

As ever, let’s take a step back and view the picture in full frame.

In the space of seven days, and without reaching the bouncing brilliance we’ve known of them from the Pat Ryan era, Cork have beaten the All-Ireland champions and the League champions.

In the space of seven days, they’ve healed a great many sores. Their summer is alive.

Only once in the short history of the Munster championship round-robin has four points been insufficient for a place in the top three. Eight days into the latest edition and Cork are all but certain of progression. The fortnight’s lay-off in competitive fare is free of suffocating pressure.

In keeping with the here and there nature of the performance, standout player contributions from Ben O'Connor's team sheet were more staccato than full scale.

Fed far more nourishingly than in Thurles, Alan Connolly assisted Cork’s opening major and finished the second. The former, on 20 minutes, represented only Cork’s fifth shot from play and sliced in half Limerick’s six-point lead. The latter score, on 45 minutes, nudged them in front for the first time.

Brian Hayes had the assist for goal number two, having earlier in the second half been denied by one of three outstanding Nickie Quaid second-half saves. Him and Seán Finn deputised for the Gillane-Joyce duel that never materialised.

The half-forward line, part of a swamped middle-third early doors, eventually delivered impact, albeit not at the sustained heights of Thurles. In Cork’s opening three points after half-time, Barrett supplied and assisted two, with the middle white flag stemming from a Darragh Fitzgibbon puckout win.

Barrett’s other minor was crucial to stem Limerick’s comeback momentum in the final quarter and represented just one of three Cork scores between the 53rd and 71st minute.

Limerick’s inquest carries a more black and white feel. They were utterly ravenous from the throw-in. Having had to wait a week longer than everyone else, their holding stall had hardly a hinge left by 2pm. Six different players split the posts for a 0-9 to 0-2 Limerick lead inside 14 minutes.

The goal that cleared a path for Cork to enter proceedings was a gift. Seán Finn’s pass and Will O’Donoghue’s control were both lacking. Their 0-16 to 1-11 interval lead told little of their dominance and cohesive interplay.

And while Cork were in command of the driver seat when Cian Lynch walked for an off-the-ball incident on 50 minutes, there was still only a point in the difference. Nearly as frustrating as the unnecessary red were the four wides from Cathal O’Neill, Shane O’Brien, and Hegarty shortly before being reduced to 14.

Their bench was light. They managed only one point attempt - unsuccessful, at that - after Diarmaid Byrnes’ goal from a 67th minute 20-metre free that sent them back ahead.

For the first time since 2019, they’ve come off second best in their championship opener. They go to Ennis next Sunday minus Lynch and minus Gillane. Their summer is far from alive.

Scorers for Cork: A Connolly (1-8, 0-7 frees); S Barrett (1-2); D Fitzgibbon (0-5, 0-2 frees); W Buckley, B Hayes (0-2 each); E Downey, T O’Mahony (free), T O’Connell (0-1 each).

Scorers for Limerick: A O’Connor (0-7, 0-3 frees, 0-1 ‘65); D Byrnes (1-2, 1-0 free); C O’Neill (0-4); P Casey, S O’Brien (0-3 each); G Hegarty, A English (0-2 each).

CORK: P Collins; S O’Donoghue, C Joyce, N O’Leary; M Coleman, R Downey, E Downey; T O’Mahony, T O’Connell; D Fitzgibbon, S Barrett, B Walsh; A Connolly, W Buckley, B Hayes.

SUBS: D Cahalane for Joyce (5 mins, inj); A Walsh for Connolly (46-53, temporary); D Healy for Buckley (51); R O’Flynn for B Walsh (72); G Millerick for R Downey (76, inj).

LIMERICK: N Quaid; S Finn, B Nash, M Casey; D Byrnes, W O’Donoghue, K Hayes; A English, C Lynch; G Hegarty, A O’Connor, C O’Neill; D Reidy, S O’Brien, P Casey.

SUBS: D O’Donovan for Reidy (53); T Morrissey for P Casey (62); C Coughlan for O’Brien (68).

Referee: J Owens (Wexford).