Fans rubbish Cork boss’ excuses after Munster SHC final loss

They have a point to be fair!

Rebel players were clearly not pleased by this, claiming that they did not know it was the last play, while boss Ben O'Connor reiterated these sentiments after the game.

He said: “I met some of the guys there and all they said to [James Owens] going off the field was that he didn't tell them it was the last puck of the ball. I thought normally a referee just said, ‘this is it, lads, you should go direct', but they said he didn’t.

“I don’t know. One of the lads said to me coming off the field, he never said… that is what they were saying to him, ‘you never told us it was the last puck of the ball’. I am only getting third-hand information off the lads. That is what they said to me coming off. I was talking to them coming out and they said they weren’t told anything.” 

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However, when looking at the facts, it is clear that Cork were the makers of their own misery.

Firstly, they should have known to ask referee James Owens about the time, considering it was already two minutes over the five minutes of added time.

Secondly, they opted not to send the ball directly into the Limerick box from a free, instead making two passes.

So, in reality, the free-kick at the death was not the last play.

Many fans took to social media to rubbish O'Connor's excuses.

But it wasn’t the last puck of the game though, they played 3 short passes nearly 3 minutes over the allocated time, ffs what did they expect to play on until Cork equalised?

— Lamps25 (@JPmc25) June 7, 2026

Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O'Leary, Damien Cahalane, Seán O'Donoghue; Eoin Downey, Robert Downey (0-01), Mark Coleman; Tim O'Mahony (0-04, 3 '65, 1f), Tommy O'Connell; Barry Walsh, Shane Barrett, Diarmuid Healy (0-02); William Buckley (0-02), Brian Hayes (1-01), Alan Connolly (1-07, 1-00pen, 7f).

Subs: Cormac O'Brien for O'Donoghue (41), Seamus Harnedy for Walsh (65), Hugh O'Connor for O'Connell (71)

Limerick: Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash (0-01), Diarmaid Byrnes (0-03, 2f, 1 '65), William O'Donoghue, Kyle Hayes, Cian Lynch (0-01), Darragh O Donovan, Gearóid Hegarty (1-01), Aidan O'Connor (0-08, 5f, 2 '65), Cathal O'Neill (0-01), Aaron Gillane, Shane O'Brien (0-01), Peter Casey (0-03).

Subs: Tom Morrissey (0-02) for O'Neill (34), Adam English for Gillane (48), David Reidy for O'Brien (66)

Referee: James Owens