Patrick Horgan: Joyce is a big blow but Cork will take so much from Páirc bearpit

The Rebels' management have a few options now after a hard-fought and costly victory on Sunday.

Ciarán Joyce is out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

The injuries to Ciarán Joyce and Rob Downey cast a shadow after Cork’s win on Sunday. There’s no point in saying otherwise.

Joycie is out now for the season with an ACL. A massive loss. He was moved into a position he’s not very comfortable with but really plugged a hole at full-back. It’s terrible for Cork but also for Joyce himself, after an All-Star season in 2025. A top hurler and very popular with everyone.

Rob Downey is out for at least the next two matches with ankle-ligament damage. Hopefully, Cork move on from Munster so he has a chance to get back in action later in the season. He showed just how good he is the last two weekends. Cork will miss his strength but also his leadership.

The management have a few options now. Damien Cahalane had a fine game coming on for Joyce on Sunday and started the Munster final up in Limerick last year as well. Very experienced. They could bring Ger Millerick in or Daire O’Leary, who is back fit again and played most of the league.

In the half-back line, Cormac O’Brien made a push last season and would have been more involved in the league only for injury, and Micheál Mullins started in the league final recently. Ethan Twomey has hurled in the half-back line before. Given the injuries, it shows how important those two wins were for Cork.

Aside from the double injury blow, it's been all upside for Cork this far. They’re building into their performances. They’d a great second half in Thurles and had to get over a poor start in the Páirc. They’ll get a block of training done with the sun out and it really feels like championship weather.

Limerick know they came very, very close to pulling it off. Cian Lynch got the red card when they were coming out with possession 30 yards out from their own goal. They hit eight from 18 shots in the second half and usually they’d be more efficient. That’s why I keep saying the margins are tiny.

Losing Aaron Gillane to injury was a big factor, obviously, and they’ll be hoping he’s fit for Ennis next weekend but no other team could lose someone of his class and still stick to their style and hurl so well. There are no mugs in that Limerick panel, they are unbelievable group of hurlers.

Straight out of the blocks they were up 0-10 to 0-3. You have to give Shane Barrett and Alan Connolly massive credit for forcing the turnover goal, that swung the game, no doubt about it, got the Cork crowd fired up.

With Lynch suspended they’ll bring Darragh O’Donovan back in for Clare I’d say. He’s one of their most important players, the way he works, how he feeds the inside line, does the right thing all the time in possession. It was his run on Sunday led to the free that Diarmaid Byrnes put into the net.

John Kiely was staying positive in his interviews afterwards and they’re still in a strong place.

Ciarán Joyce is out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury. Picture: INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Cork will have learned so much though, especially the younger lads William Buckley and Barry Walsh. Sunday showed why Limerick are the biggest test. You’re hear people saying all the time ‘turn them and run’. It rarely gets to that, only a few times in every match can you find that space to go. They swarm you in the middle and you’ve a very small window to win the ball and it’s even tighter to get the pass away.

They work to their strengths, savage work-rate, never let the opposition settle. You’d be watching video analysis back after and you can see there are runners but it’s a lot harder to spot them when you’re out there.  When there are three Limerick fellas hounding you there should be two team-mates free but it’s not that easy!

I was with RTÉ Radio at another brilliant Munster championship game in Walsh Park on Sunday but you’re wondering afterwards did a draw help either team?

Tipp and Waterford both have to go to Limerick yet. While they’re mathematically still there, it’s still an awful task to get a win in the Gaelic Grounds. Limerick might have lost to Cork but it was only very fine margins, and they showed exactly how good they still are.

On Sunday, in that first half, Tipp looked absolutely brilliant. They were really up for it, very aggressive, made a few changes to the starting 15 and were everything they weren’t against Cork.

I was keeping track of it and until the 18th minute, every stick pass they hit went to hand. They were so accurate and quick with their deliveries that the receiver had time to look up take a shot or move it on again. You could see that in the scoreboard.

Stephen Bennett has been the best player in the Munster championship so far. Picture: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Up 11 points at half-time, they looked like they could be out the gap. We couldn’t really feel the wind in the commentary box but it was definitely a factor. Still, you have to say if Darragh McCarthy scored the penalty early in the second half, there wouldn’t have been a way back for Waterford.

I was very impressed with Seán Mackey when he came on. Got the ball into his hand and was letting it in when he could have shot. That was a problem for Waterford at times, they’d so many wides in the first half.

Calum Lyons hit three from play but butchered another few. At one stage, he had Jamie Barron on the run alongside him but shot off balance and the ball ended up in Rhys Shelly’s hands. Tipp went down the other end, got a point and another off the puck-out.

It happened later in the game too when Austin Gleeson shot but never looked, into Shelly again, another two points off it. Then you had Gleeson trying to work a goal with a quick free when he should have popped it over to make it a one-point game.

There are all the work-ons for Waterford now before Cork head down to Walsh Park. They’ve a gap weekend after two tough games and won’t have any fear of Cork at all. They beat us two years ago and fixtures down there are tough for any opposition.

Their goals are something to note because they’ve seven and no one else in Munster has more than two. They’ve done so much right and proved they’re a serious teams, it’s just everything counts at this level. The point I was trying to make about dropping shots into Shelly is that such small things can be so costly.

Young supporters surround TJ Reid of Kilkenny after he became hurling's top championship scorer again last weekend. Picture: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

In Stephen Bennett, they’ve the hurler of the championship so far. Four goals and this is a fella with two bad hips. I remember meeting him a few years ago and that was an issue and he’s still doing the business now.

He’s got everything in a forward. He’s strong so he can push off his marker and he’s fast too, so he can take you on with the sliotar in his hand. A class act.

For Tipp, they just have to stay positive but they’ll have to be disappointed being caught with that late goal by Kevin O’Mahony. They’ve a break before Clare to get ready for that game in Thurles and it’s absolutely must-win.

*I want to congratulate TJ Reid. He’s top scorer in championship now after the Wexford game. He’s still going strong. Kilkenny needed to show what they were about after that bad defeat to Galway and he was driving them on, leading the way at 38 years of age.

It’s amazing how a week can change everything. We knew there would be a response but the way they pushed on in the second half shows what Kilkenny are capable of and puts them in a good position to get back to a Leinster final as well.