Cork 1-16
Limerick 1-16
JOHNNY CAROLAN REPORTS
CORK hurling manager Pat Ryan praised his side for the manner in which they fought back to earn a draw against Limerick at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday night.
While the home side had led by five points after 12 minutes of the first half, Will O’Donoghue’s goal helped to turn the game Limerick’s way.
A 1-7 to 0-8 half-time lead for the Shannonsiders extended to six on the resumption and, though Cork’s Shane Barrett did eat into the deficit with a goal, there were still four points between the teams with 58 minutes on the clock.
Even in injury time, Limerick still led by two but Darragh Fitzgibbon’s accurate free-taking ensured a share of the spoils for the Rebels. Despite losing their way after the strong start, Ryan felt there were a lot of positives to take.
‘I suppose you're never going to be in control of the game all the time when you're against a really good team like Limerick,’ he said.
‘We’ll look at the areas why we lost control and that will give us areas to get better as we move forward. But, look, delighted with our lads' effort.’
Up by 0-7 to 0-2 after good early points from Luke Meade and Ethan Twomey as well as Fitzgibbon’s fine free-taking while Tim O’Mahony and his Newtownshandrum colleague Cormac O’Brien did well in defence, Cork looked to be coasting.
Shane Kingston gets his shot away despite the attention of Limerick's Patrick O'Donovan.
However, they were to score just once more in the first half, with O’Donoghue’s goal – well set up by Kyle Hayes but with Cork’s marking found wanting – giving Limerick the impetus to take control.
When they converted a two-point lead to six within five minutes of the restart, the Cork faithful among the crowd of 23,402 might have feared for the hosts’ prospects but Ryan did not.
‘I have great faith in our fellas,’ he said.
‘Since we became involved, the lads have given us really, really good performances, really good effort in all the games we've done and we've been really consistent, even in games that we've lost or we've been behind. We've come back into it and really, really driven on and trying to get back into the game.
‘I think that was probably a game that we would have lost before. I think it shows the resilience and the determination of our lads to really drive on. And, look, obviously we took a few injuries in as well and stuff like that.
‘We got to see a lot of our panel and got to see a lot of really good performances from fellas that probably didn't start to the All-Ireland final last year. So, look, we move forward now to Tipperary in three weeks.’
Barrett’s goal – a flowing move involving Meade and Brian Hayes after O’Mahony had initiated a good turnover – got Cork back within touching distance but even so, Limerick stayed ahead, helped by frees from goalkeeper Jason Gillane and Adam English.
Cork persevered though, Hayes firing over two good late points before Fitzgibbon – kept on dead-ball duty even after the first-half introduction of Patrick Horgan for the injured Pádraig Power – was on hand to convert the injury-time frees and secure a point.
‘I suppose those games that you're trying to win and those games that you're trying not to lose,’ Ryan said, ‘and that was a game that we needed not to lose.
‘And that was really positive for us because we've come down the challenge there a couple of times, you know, against Clare maybe last year, obviously in the All-Ireland final, but also in the Championship out here and against Limerick in 2023 when, you know, we just needed a score just to get over the line.
‘But, look, in fairness, we won a great free and Darragh put it over the bar. Both teams will be very happy, I think, with what their panels did.’
Scorers
Cork: Darragh Fitzgibbon 0-10 (9f); Shane Barrett 1-0; Brian Hayes 0-2; Shane Kingston, Luke Meade, Ethan Twomey, Tim O'Mahony (f) 0-1 each.
Limerick: Patrick O'Donovan (1f), Adam English (3f) 0-4 each; Will O'Donoghue 1-0; Jason Gillane (2f), Aidan O'Connor, Cian Lynch 0-2 each; Diarmaid Byrnes, Shane O'Brien 0-1 each.
Cork: Patrick Collins; Eoin Roche, Ger Millerick, Niall O’Leary; Cormac O’Brien, Ciarán Joyce, Tim O’Mahony; Darragh Fitzgibbon, Ethan Twomey; Shane Kingston, Shane Barrett, Luke Meade; Brian Hayes, Pádraig Power, Alan Connolly.
Subs: Patrick Horgan for Power (17, injured), Mark Coleman for Kingston (48), Conor Lehane for Connolly (59), Brian Roche for Lehane (62, injured), Robbie Cotter for Barrett (68).
Limerick: Jason Gillane; Seán Finn, Dan Morrissey, Barry Murphy; Diarmaid Byrnes, Kyle Hayes, Colin Coughlan; Adam English, Will O’Donoghue; Aidan O’Connor, Cian Lynch, Gearóid Hegarty; Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Shane O’Brien, Patrick O’Donovan.
Subs: David Reidy for Hegarty (16-full-time, temporary), Fergal O’Connor for Finn (half-time), Cian Scully for Byrnes (45), Séamus Flanagan for Ó Dálaigh, Michael Houlihan for O’Donovan (both 49), Eddie Stokes for O’Donoghue (58-full-time, temporary).
Referee: Seán Stack (Dublin).
