Cork v Limerick: Three reasons the Rebels are Munster champions
Cork goalkeeper Patrick Collins saves the penalty from Limerick's Tom Morrissey. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
More than one, Pat Ryan highlighted how Cork’s efforts in the round-robin game had been nowhere near the base levels expected by him and the management team.
There was no one outstanding Cork player who produced a 90-minute performance; such a thing is a unicorn. Instead, a number of them came up with the big plays at important times. The Rebels had 13 different scorers; such a tally doesn’t materialise out of nowhere.
Going to the home of the team that had won the previous six Munster titles and trying to dethrone them, three weeks after a 16-point loss, is a massive task and not something that can be achieved unless a team truly believes that it is possible.
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Having beaten Limerick in close matches twice last year, Cork certainly had no hang-ups regarding the green jersey but, even so, they had reset following the first loss and then ensure that each big moment for Limerick during the match was answered in a strong fashion. They did that irably.
Had Barry Murphy and Declan Hannon kept their penalties on target, then there is a chance that this piece would be headed ‘Three reasons Cork lost’, despite being focused on the same 90 minutes of hurling.
The amount of injury time at the end of extra time went Cork’s way, while Nickie Quaid dropping the ball out for a 65 was uncharacteristic. That’s not to say that Cork got all the calls – they certainly did not – and they still had to make the most of their breaks.
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