Munster Senior Hurling Championship
By Matt O’Callaghan

LIMERICK……………………………………………………………………………………3-25
CORK……………………………………………………………………………………………1-30
After leading by seven points with just ten minutes remaining, Limerick had to resist a strong comeback before booking a place in the Munster Senior Hurling Final on June 11th following a narrow victory over Cork at TUS Gaelic Grounds on Sunday.
Coming into the game, John Kiely’s men reaching the provincial final was one of the least likely permutations on a day of high drama as Tipperary were hot favourites to see off Waterford in Thurles. However, the Déise’s shock victory was enough for five in a row chasing Limerick with the victory over the Rebels to leapfrog the Premier County into second place in the standings and set up a very appetising rematch with Clare in the decider.
This was a thrill a minute contest, end to end action playing out in sun baked conditions in front of an attendance of 40,847
The stakes were high, so much so that the sides were tentative at the start with Limerick slow to settle and misfired on four occasions in the first four minutes. After that it was nip and tuck with both sides enjoying periods of dominance.
Limerick had established a seven points lead with ten minutes remaining and looked on course for the victory they craved to save the season but in typical fashion as they did against Tipperary and Clare, Pat Ryan’s Rebels hit back to close the gap to the minimum and set up a nail-biting, edge of the seat finale.
Limerick lined out without two times Hurler of the Year Cian Lynch whom was suffering from a knock but the Patrickswell man made a late cameo appearance.
This was without question Limerick’s best perfor-mance of the campaign, and it had to be, but John Kiely’s men have still some way to go before fully recapturing the levels that has made them invincible for the last three years,
For Cork it is back to the drawing board, a League campaign that promised so much before running aground in the semi-final. A bright start to the championship with three points from a possible four has heartbreakingly ended with back to back one point defeats on opponents’ turf in Ennis and now Limerick.
Declan Dalton from a free and Tim O’Mahony from play had Cork off to a bright start before Aaron Gillane opened Limerick’s account in the sixth minute. Patrick Horgan free and Gearóid Hegarty traded points before Limerick hit three in a row from Tom Morrissey, Darragh O’Donovan and William O’Donoghue to open up a 0-5 to 0-3 lead after ten minutes.
Shane Kingston and Barry Nash swapped points as did Declan Dalton and Séamus Flanagan before Cork hit the next five through Patrick Horgan and Declan Dalton frees, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Luke Meade and Fitzgibbon again to go four points clear 0-11 to 0-7 after 20 minutes
Peter Casey arrested the Cork scoring sequence with a Limerick point that was quickly cancelled out by Patrick Horgan. Aaron Gillane sent over for Limerick and within 60 seconds the Patrickswell man won a Kyle Hayes delivery into the danger area and deftly offloaded to Séamus Flanagan to blast to the Cork net to tie up the scores.
Patrick Horgan and Robert Downey restored a two points lead for Cork and Tom Morrissey narrowed the gap only for Horgan to reply from a free.
On the half hour mark an Aaron Gillane effort came back off the butt of a post but John Kiely’s men did not have long to wait for a second goal. William O’Donoghue went on a run before being surrounded by a number of Cork defenders but the Na Piarsaigh man spotted the run of Cathal O’Neill and offloaded and the Crecora-Manister man showed deft skill in steering the ball past Patrick Collins.
Aaron Gillane added two frees as Limerick went three clear but they were pulled back to parity by a late Cork flurry with points from Séamus Harnedy and a Horgan double from frees, Limerick 2-12, Cork 0-18 at half time.
Diarmaid Byrnes from distance nosed Limerick in front after the restart but Patrick Horgan levelled. Points from Declan Hannon and Diarmaid Byrnes had Limerick back in front only for Darragh Fitzgibbon to pare the margin back to the minimum.
On 44 minutes, Limerick took a grip on proceedings after Aaron Gillane was dragged down in the square and up stepped Diarmaid Byrnes to discharge an unstoppable shot to the Cork net from the resulting penalty.
Horgan free and Darragh O’Donovan play exchanged points before Cork hit three in a row from Shane Kingston, Séamus Harnedy and Patrick Horgan to close the gap to the minimum midway through the half, Limerick 3-16, Cork 0-24.
Over the next eight minutes, Limerick tacked on six unanswered points courtesy of Gearóid Hegarty, Diarmaid Byrnes, Kyle Hayes, Aaron Gillane Darragh O’Donovan and Séamus Flanagan to open up a heathy seven points lead 3-22 to 0-24 with just over ten minutes remaining.
Cork set about dismantling the lead, on the hour mark Patrick Horgan pulled first time on the ground and although Nickie Quaid got a block on it, the Effin clubman was unable to keep it from going in the net. Horgan, Darragh Fitzgibbon and Horgan again added points and suddenly the champions lead was almost wiped out and with the margin down to the minimum with a minute or normal time and four of added time remaining.
The sides went tit for tat in the closing minutesh sharing six points in a frantic finish as Cork were unable to get their noses in front, Séamus Harnedy replied to Gearóid Hegarty, Patrick Horgan free to Diarmaid Byrne’s 65 and on 72 minutes a powerful shot from Séamus Flanagan just skimmed Patrick Collins’ crossbar.
Cork refused to give up and a Patrick Horgan free ensured the nail-biting went on until James Owens sounded the final whistle.
Scorers: Limerick: Diarmaid Byrnes 1-4, 1-65, 1-0 pen; Séamus Flanagan 1-3, Aaron Gillane 0-5, 2fs; Cathal O’Neill 1-0; Gearóid Hegarty, Darragh O’Donovan 0-3 each; Tom Morrissey 0-2; William O’Donoghue, Barry Nash, Peter Casey, Declan Hannon, Kyle Hayes 0-1 each.
Cork: Patrick Horgan 1-14, 11fs; Darragh Fitzgibbon, Séamus Harnedy 0-4 each, Declan Dalton 0-3, 2fs; Shane Kingston 0-2; Tim O’Mahony, Luke Meade, Robert Downey 0-1 each.
Limerick: Nickie Quaid; Mike Casey, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon (Captain), Kyle Hayes; Darragh O’ Donovan, William O’ Donoghue; Gearóid Hegarty, Cathal O’Neill, Tom Morrissey; Aaron Gillane, Séamus Flanagan, Peter Casey.
Subs: Richie English for Declan Hannon (53), David Reidy for Cathal O’ Neill (57), Colin Coughlan for Mike Casey (65), Graeme Mulcahy for Peter Casey (65), Cian Lynch for Darragh O’Donovan (67).
Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Damian Cahalane, Seán O’ Donoghue (Captain); Ger Mellerick, Ciarán Joyce, Robert Downey; Darragh Fitzgibbon, Luke Meade; Declan Dalton, Tim O’ Mahony, Séamus Harnedy; Brian Roche , Patrick Horgan, Shane Kingston.
Subs: Brian Hayes for Brian Roche (39), Conor Lehane for Tim O’Mahony (53), Pádraig Power for Shane Kingston (58), Ethan Twomey for Luke Meade (59).
Referee: James Owens, Wexford.