Brilliant Cork park the Limerick drive for five in classic
Point Declan Dalton Cork's Stephen Half Scoring By After Celebrates Mccarthy/sportsfile Second Photo A
It will be 2013 all over again on July 21 as Cork ended Limerick’s five-in-a-row aspirations with a second half display of epic proportions.
A date with Clare awaits Cork after they backed up their dramatic Munster SHC round win over the All-Ireland champions with another thundering showing after the half-time break.
They made Limerick’s championship third quarter their own. Facing a two-point deficit at half-time, 1-11 to 0-16, they were level within a minute. When they went ahead in the 39th minute, they never relinquished it.
Cork were pairing scores; Limerick weren’t. Pat Ryan’s men led by four in the 45th minute prior to Gearóid Hegarty’s shot being kept out by Patrick Collins and Aaron Gillane slipping in trying to strike the ricochet (he had fallen at the most inopportune time when a goal was abegging in the first half).
Patrick Horgan’s fourth point in the 57th minute gave Cork a seven-point cushion and the margin was still healthy at six in the 64th minute, the last time they scored. Limerick’s influx of youth from the bench in Shane O’Brien, Aidan O’Connor and Adam English improved their chances of snaring Cork but there was no catching them.
Cork belted into the opening 10 minutes, hitting Limerick for four points on the bounce after Aaron Gillane was off the mark in the first minute.
Limerick’s puck-outs were not reaching their intended targets and Cork’s energy was proving a lot for the Munster champions’ middle third but they began to knit together passes and were back on level terms by the ninth minute.
Cork pushed ahead again and once more Limerick came rattling back with a couple of points. Cork were a point to the good before they grabbed the first goal in the 18th minute. Diarmaid Byrnes had so much time to deal with a ball on the wing but Shane Barrett won and provided it for Hayes to bulge the net.
Hayes was wheeling away from celebrating a second goal a minute later but Alan Connolly’s hand-pass was adjudged to be a throw and ruled out by Thomas Walsh. Hayes did however added a point and Cork’s advantage expanded to five.
Spanked into action, Limerick tore into the game and landed six points without reply in less than four minutes. Another goal opening came Hayes’ way in the 26th minute but he had to settle for a point.
It did nothing to arrest Limerick’s momentum. They scored three of the half’s remaining four points, Horgan missing a straightforward free.
B. Hayes (1-4); P. Horgan (0-5, 3 frees); D. Dalton (2 frees), S. Harnedy (0-4 each); A. Connolly, S. Barrett, D. Fitzgibbon (0-3 each); R. Downey, M. Coleman (0-1 each).
A. Gillane (0-10, 4 frees); D. Reidy, C. O’Neill, D. Byrnes (2 frees) (0-3 each); T. Morrissey, S. O’Brien, A. English (0-2 each); S. Flanagan, C. Lynch, K. Hayes, G. Hegarty (0-1 each).
P. Collins; N. O’Leary, E. Downey, S. O’Donoghue (c); M. Coleman, R. Downey, C. Joyce; T. O’Mahony, D. Fitzgibbon; D. Dalton, S. Barrett, S. Harnedy; P. Horgan, A. Connolly, B. Hayes.
S. Kingston for P. Horgan (temp 34-35); E. Twomey for T. O’Mahony (58); S. Kingston for D. Dalton (62); R. O’Flynn for S. Harnedy (66); P. Power for P. Horgan (70+3).
N. Quaid; M. Casey, D. Morrissey, S. Finn; D. Byrnes, D. Hannon (c), K. Hayes; W. O’Donoghue, C. Lynch; G. Hegarty, T. Morrissey, C. O’Neill; A. Gillane, S. Flanagan, D. Reidy.
S. O’Brien for S. Flanagan (52); A. English for D. Reidy, D. O’Donovan for W. O’Donoghue (both 54); A. O’Connor for T. Morrissey (63).
T. Walsh (Waterford).
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