Bench was crucial for Cork hurlers in Limerick but green machine will be back with a vengeance
Cork player Tommy O'Connell celebrates at the final whistle in TUS Gaelic Grounds. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Danish breweries do not do Munster Hurling finals, but if they did they would probably make them like last Saturday’s one, where Cork halted Limerick's seven-in-a-row bid after a historic penalty shootout triumph.
Perhaps there was an element of a rope a dope with this fixture as in the space of just three weeks Cork went from losing by sixteen points to Limerick to scalping them in their own backyard. That certainly was not the plan, but from a psychological perspective, it probably helped.
A special word must go to the Cork bench given their magnificent contribution on Saturday.
When the respective two teams were announced late last week the perceived narrative was that it was the Shannonsiders who held the whip hand in of their bench strength, but it turned out to be the Rebel reinforcements who turned the game their way. Given that Cork were missing Declan Dalton and Ger Millerick, and that both Rob Downey and Niall O’Leary were not fit enough to start, that was some achievement.
This was crucial given Limerick had the breeze at their backs for the second half.
Lehane and Kingston have both had their critics in Cork colours down the years, but on Saturday they were simply superb, as they ran the tiring Limerick defence ragged, with them brilliantly scrapping for possession. This would have been perceived weaknesses of the pair, as important here as lancing over five key points from play between them.
Oh, and there was the small matter of the penalties they both slotted in the shootout, with Lehane’s at 2-0 down being particularly crucial.
There was always this nagging feeling that Cork missed a trick by not springing the Midleton man in last year's All-Ireland final against Clare and Saturday added to that notion. You would think that he would now have a considerable part to play in the rest of Cork's year, no matter how it ends up.
His clubmate Tommy O’Connell also made a huge contribution off the pine and appears now to be back in the driving seat to be the first man in around midfield.
Diarmuid Healy must have woken up on Sunday morning thinking that this inter-county lark is a doddle. The Lisgoold youngster was making his first championship start and the wing-forward looked the part, contributing three points from play as well as working his socks off in the scraps for possession.
He now has won minor medals at Munster and All-Ireland level, U20 provincial and national medals, a national hurling league medal and now a senior Munster medal. At the age of just 20, he only has the big dog left to win. Cork fans will be praying that he completes the set next month.
The Cork defence had creaked badly in the round-robin clash back on 18 May when Limerick ripped them apart, winning by 16 points. The aggression levels were up a considerable number of notches this time around, with the likes of Mark Coleman, Damien Cahalane, Tim O’Mahony and Ciaran Joyce not taking a backward step in the physical exchanges.
Cian Lynch was doing wreck in the first half but Joyce eventually got to grips with him to such an extent that the Patrickswell talisman was almost completely taken out of the game after half-time.
Kyle Hayes ran the show in the first match in May but Cork ensured he was on the periphery this time around. Indeed, Hayes was chasing Shane Barrett around the Gaelic Grounds with the Blarney win coming well out on top in their battle as he scored 1-3 from play.
Possibly the stat of the day is the fact that Saturday was the first time that John Kiely’s Limerick have lost a major final.
Five All-Irelands, six Munster finals and three league deciders had all been gobbled up without experiencing the pain of defeat.
A second victory over Limerick in a final may well be necessary next month. That would be even more difficult than this one was.
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