Four key factors in Limerick's dramatic defeat to Cork in Munster SHC

AGE-OLD rivals Limerick and Cork produced an enthralling contest in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday evening, as ‘the Rebels’ sealed victory late on through Patrick Horgan's penalty to keep their 2024 championship hopes alive.

This was a first defeat of the campaign for Munster and All-Ireland champions Limerick. The result leaves all five teams still in the Munster championship with two rounds to play.

THE FINISH

IT looked as if Limerick had done enough to hang on for a narrow victory when substitute Aidan O’Connor hit an inspirational score under the stand to put John Kiely’s side 3-26 to 2-27 ahead on 72 minutes.

Then, a quick puckout from Cork’s Patrick Collins found Shane Kingston and it looked as if he was in for a goal before Kyle Hayes pulled him down and referee Sean Stack awarded a penalty for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity.

Sharpshooter Patrick Horgan made no mistake from the penalty and Brian Hayes quickly added a point. Cork’s finish ultimately proved to be the difference in this epic encounter.

LIMERICK'S SECOND HALF DISPLAY

LIMERICK looked in a difficult situation at the break trailing 2-15 to 1-10. You can never question this team’s never-say-die attitude, Limerick just don’t seem to panic.

By the 58th Limerick led ‘the Rebels’ 3-22 to 2-23 where they outscored their opponents 2-12 to 0-8 in the opening 23 minutes of the second half. After that they never trailed until the final two minutes of the game.

SEAMUS FLANAGAN'S PERFORMANCE

BEFORE this game, Seamus Flanagan had failed to score from play in the Munster championship. Flanagan was taken off after 45 minutes against Clare and didn’t come off the bench against Waterford.

The full forward was in fantastic form on Saturday, scoring 3-3 and proving to be a handful for ‘the Rebels’ defence.

Cork did such a good job of keeping Aaron Gillane scoreless from play so Seamus Flanagan was the man to step up and hit some inspirational scores in periods of the game where Limerick were struggling.

CORK'S EXPLOSIVE START 

Cork led 2-15 to 1-10 at the break. In the opening half, the home side seemed to have space from their own puckouts and hard running from all angles opened up space for Cork which created numerous overlaps which Limerick struggled to get to grips with.

Cork scored 3-12 off their long puckouts from Patrick Collins which was a telling stat and Limerick really struggled on gaining possession at stages from Collins’ restarts.