Limerick 2-25 Cork 1-16
Cork got off to the perfect start, they had a goal after 15 seconds and they had the Páirc Uí Chaoimh crowd behind them but none of that mattered.
Because after all that, and for the third championship game in a row, Limerick devoured them like a man would a boy. The All-Ireland champions were guilty of hitting a few poor wides and a few poor passes to start off but once they settled into it and once they started hurling, Cork had nothing close to an answer for them.
Not many would have had. Gearoid Hegarty had one of those days out there, the big St Patrick’s club-man hurling with an ease and composure that saw him either score or set up a score with every touch. He was border-line unplayable and no matter what Cork tried, they couldn’t get near the big easy.
On the same side of the field, just 50 yards down the line, the same could be said for the irrepressible Diarmaid Byrnes. Try as you might, and watch as much hurling as you can but you will never find a better ball-striker than the Patrickswell man. The horse and cart of a wing back scored 0-6 on the day, half of them from open play and as if he needed to do more, he also totally and completely dominated anything else that came near him.
One of his points off the back foot was as fine a score as you’ll see.
Just like he did in the All-Ireland final, Shane Kingston was the man who got Cork off to a flying start with a well-taken goal but that was as good as it got for them. In a pattern that wasn’t too dis-similar to their League final loss to Waterford, they were too dithery and too indecisive. In fairness, against a team like Limerick, in that sort of form, it is very hard to be anything else.
Just Cian Lynch scoring a point off one-knee. Because why not?pic.twitter.com/ZsxbzICwjC
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) April 17, 2022
At half-time, Donal Óg Cusack attempted to sum up the source of Cork’s downfall and he felt that, in playing Mark Coleman as a sweeper, they were shooting themselves in the foot.
“Are Cork wronging Coleman here? He just doesn’t give you the feel that he knows how to play this role.
“Listen, it’s very easy to sit here and give out about lads and I’ve made mistakes myself but it’s like first-class defending,” added Cusack as he watched Kyle Hayes saunter past Coleman for a first half goal,
“It’s one of the rules you’re taught in first class,” he said of Coleman’s slack defending, as he let Hayes turn him on the inside.
A goal for @LimerickCLG from Kyle Hayes to put them in front in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship! #GAANOW pic.twitter.com/ErZ6lL674d
— The GAA (@officialgaa) April 17, 2022
“Cork just made this easy for Limerick. The movement from our forwards wasn’t good enough.
“It’s slow ball. We need to move it faster. I was involved in plenty of short puck-outs and so on but I actually believed that if a goalkeeper can give a ball all the way into the full forward line if there’s space in front of him then that’s what he should do. Because Cork are getting mixed up between both worlds.
“I actually feel for Patrick Collins in the goals there, looking out at all those Limerick giants in front of him. And even if you look at the forwards, how many times are they just turning around back out the field.”
On the other side of the world, the American-based John Gardiner made a similar point to his former team-mate.
Retain possession, I get that, but who decided it’s better to make 6 passes in your full back line rather than playing the ball in to space down the other end? #corkvlimerick
— John Gardiner (@JohnGaa5) April 17, 2022
“They’re Cork forwards and they’re just not working hard enough and that’s not just this year,” added Shane Dowling.
And unfortunately for Cork, at the moment, it’s hard to argue with any of it.
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