Allianz HL D1A Final: Limerick get job done against Cork

Allianz Hurling League Division 1A Final

LIMERICK 1-27 CORK 1-21

By John Harrington at the TUS Gaelic Grounds

This final confirmed what the regulation rounds of the hurling league had suggested – Limerick are currently a cut above every other team in the country.

Whether they can maintain that status throughout the championship only time will tell, but they deserve to be very satisfied with their work to date.

It’s clear the appetite of the group remains undiminished, as does the sheer class of some of the team’s star players.

None more so than Aaron Gillane who showed once again why he’s the outstanding inside forward in the country as he scored a brilliant 1-4 from play and won the vast majority of balls that came his way.

Seán Finn is another worth mentioning. He’s had his share of injuries in recent years but was back in fine fettle here, holding Alan Connolly scoreless from play.

Shane Barrett was another Cork forward who failed to score from play, which had a lot to do with the dominance of Limerick centre-back William O’Donoghue who is now cemented in the position.

While Adam English is now looking like a very well rounded midfielder who combines an ability to score heavily with an insatiable appetite for work.

A six-point win was a pretty accurate summation of Limerick’s superiority in this game, but you have to give Cork some credit for getting that close.

It looked like they could be beaten all ends up when they conceded the first six points of the match and trailed by nine by the 18^th minute, and the fact that they salvaged some honour in defeat means this loss shouldn’t damage them ahead ahead of the Munster Championship campaign.

That being said, they were in a good position trailing by just three points at half-time with a big wind to come at their backs for the second, but they never really looked like winning the game due to the dominance of Limerick’s defence and the sheer brilliance of Aaron Gillane.

You have to give Limerick a lot of credit for re-seizing the initiative in the second half after a second-quarter fade-out, and it was largely thanks to the fact they regained dominion over the physical exchanges.

Generally the team with the better half-back line wins the match, and that was certainly the case here. Diarmaid Byrnes, O'Donoghue, and Kyle Hayes all won their individual battles, whereas Eoin Downey, Robert Downey, and Micheál Mullins arguably came off second best in theirs.

Limerick had started the match at 100mph, especially jet-heeled midfielder, English, who had already two points to his name after just two minutes.

Gillane also looked very much in the mood right from the start and he hit a trademark score to stretch Limerick’s advantage to three.

The Treaty County were making the most of the wind at their backs, but it was the sheer ferocity of their tackling combined with their sharp stick-work that was the key to their early dominance.

Aidan O’Connor landed a free and ’65 in quick succession and then Diarmaid Byrnes roused the biggest cheer yet from the vocal Limerick support when he caught the sliotar above Darragh Fitzgibbon’s head and walloped it over the bar from long range.

That high for the Patrickswell man was swiftly followed by a low though when, after dallying on the ball in space for a couple of seconds, he inexplicably decided to play it across his unprotected goals straight to Cork’s Brian Hayes who had the simple task of tapping it into an empty net.

It was a lifebuoy that a quickly drowning Cork badly needed, but it didn’t stem the tide of Limerick’s dominance.

Points from Cathal O’Neill, Aidan O’Connor, Adam English, and Shane O’Brien opened their advantage to 6 points again, and then Gillane struck for a truly special goal.

When he and his marker Seán O’Donoghue both raced towards an oncoming ball Gillane showed great sleight of hand and foot to touch it beyond O’Donoghue and turn onto it all in the one fluid movement.

He rose it into his hand, raced towards goal, and buried a shot from the 21 yard line to the back of the net. It was some score.

Now trailing by 1-11 to 1-2 with just 18 minutes on the clock, Cork looked in serious trouble, but they gritted their teeth and showed a lot of character to battle their way back into the match in the second quarter.

They started to match Limerick’s physicality in the tackle which allowed them to win more possession and sending it in the direction of their forwards.

Four frees in a row by Alan Connolly slowed Limerick’s momentum and gave Cork a real foothold in the game for a the first time.

And when Darragh Fitzgibbon then lofted over a great score on the run from the right win to reduce the deficit to just four points, Cork were suddenly right back in the contest despite being completely out-hurled in that first quarter.

Tim O’Mahony and Tommy O’Connell were starting to make their presence made in midfield, with the latter pulling off a brilliant last-ditch hook to deny Adam English a goal.

Shortly after that Patrick Collins made a great save from Cian Lynch. The sliotar ended up in the net seconds later after a scramble on the goal-line, but referee Shane Hynes had blown for a throw-in.

Cork had the last say of the half when a lung-busting run from O’Connell set up Brian Hayes for a great point, and by the break the Rebels had cut the deficit to a very manageable three points with the wind to come in the second half.

They never quite managed to get the run on Limerick they needed to though in order to really generate the belief they could win this game.

Limerick’s defence reasserted itself, Gearoid Hegarty and Cathal O’Neill gave their team a great ball-winning platform in the half-forward line, and Aaron Gillane kept doing Aaron Gillane things.

He was tagged by Ger Millerick in the second-half after Seán O’Donoghue was forced off injured, and the Fr. O’Neill’s had his hands full.

Gillane is so physically powerful, has such a good hand, and times his runs so well that it’s very difficult to prevent him winning the ball. And if he gets the ball in his hand, it’s then very difficult to stop him scoring as he showed with a brilliant point over his left shoulder in the 48^th minute that pushed Limerick 1-18 to 1-12 ahead.

It looked like Limerick were grinding Cork down at that stage, but then the Rebels had a brief purple patch when the very lively William Buckley, Tim O’Mahony, and Hugh O’Connor all struck points in the space of a couple of minutes.

By the 63^rd minute Cork had reduced the gap to just two points, 1-21 to 1-19, but when the game was there to be won it was Limerick that had the resolve to find the big finish.

Gearoid Hegarty hit a nice point his defiant performance deserved and Gillane landed another worldie from wide on the left, and you knew at that stage that Cork were cooked.

A League title is quickly forgotten once the championship begins but, if nothing else, Limerick will go into the Munster campaign more sure about themselves than Cork will be after this match.

Scorers for Limerick: Aaron Gillane 1-7 (3f), Aidan O’Connor 0-8 (7f, 1 65), Adam English 0-3, Diarmaid Byrnes 0-3 (1f, 1 65), Cathal O’Neill 0-2, Gearoid Hegarty 0-2 Shane O’Brien, David Reidy both 0-1.

Scorers for Cork: Alan Connolly 0-7 (all frees), Brian Hayes 1-3, William Buckley 0-3, Darragh Fitzgibbon 0-2, Tim O’Mahony 0-2 (1f), Tommy O’Connell, Hugh O’Connor, Seamus Harnedy, Mark Coleman all 0-1

**LIMERICK:**Nickie Quaid; Seán Finn, Mike Casey, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes, William O’Donoghue, Kyle Hayes; Adam English, Cian Lynch; Gearóid Hegarty, Aidan O’Connor, Cathal O’Neill; Aaron Gillane, Shane O’Brien, David Reidy. Subs: Peter Casey for Cathal O’Neill (32 blood sub), Cathal O’Neill for Peter Casey (ht), Peter Casey for Shane O’Brien (54), Darragh O’Donovan for Aidan O’Connor (58), Ethan Hurley for Cian Lynch (67), Colin Coughlan for Diarmaid Byrnes (73)

CORK: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Ciarán Joyce, Seán O’Donoghue; Eoin Downey, Robert Downey, Micheál Mullins; Tim O’Mahony, Tommy O’Connell; Séamus Harnedy, Shane Barrett, Darragh Fitzgibbon; William Buckley, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes. Subs: Ger Millerick for Sean O’Donoghue (36), Mark Coleman for Micheál Mullins (48), Hugh O’Connor for Séamus Harnedy (51), Robbie O’Flynn for Tommy O’Connell (62), Declan Dalton for William Buckley (69), Damien Cahalane for Robert Downey (72)

Ref: Shane Hynes (Galway)