Limerick eliminated from Munster Hurling League after narrow Cork loss

John Kiely’s men will play Kerry this week in a dead rubber contest with Cork already beating both in the pre season.

Limerick’s chances of retaining the Munster Hurling League were halted in their tracks by Cork as they claimed a 0-20 to 1-16 victory in Pairc Ui Rinn on Sunday afternoon.

Late scores from Conor Lehane and Brian Hayes pulled the Rebels over the line and into the final where they will face Tipperary on Sunday.

Limerick will rue missed chances in the closing stages as the hosts ticked off four of the last five scores as the Shannonsiders wide tally racked up.

Conor O’Grady, a late substitute, had Limerick in front heading into injury time on his debut but wides from the Hospital Herbertswon man as well as misses from Tom Morrissey and Shane O’Brien gave Cork the opportunity to firstly equalise before finding the 74th minute winner.

O’Grady was one of seven debutants on the day with none looking out of place which will be a huge boost to Kiely. At corner back, Fergal O’Connor was arguably the most impressive of the lot while teenager Shane O’Brien had a pair from play at the other end. Aidan O’Connor also clipped over a couple with O’Grady the other scorer on his first appearance. Ciaran Barry was solid at wing back whil Micheal Houlihan and Jimmy Quilty were also introduced from the bench.

David Reidy was Limerick’s top scorer with 0-9 to his name, albeit all coming from placed balls as both teams struggled with the conditions in the opening exchanges.

Cork were 0-4 to 0-1 to the good early on but a quickfire 1-1 gave Limerick their first lead of the afternoon. O’Brien getting his first before a long Darragh O’Donovan delivery found it’s way into the net with Oisin O’Reilly seemingly getting the deftest of touches to eek past Ger Collins in the Cork net.

The sides went back and forth for the remainder of the half but Lehane had the final say for a 0-11 to 1-7 half time advantage.

Kiely’e men hit five on the trot on the resumption but Corkj refused to go away and with Lehane in fine scoring form, from both play and frees, they were level at 0-18 to 1-15 with five minutes of normal time to play.

O’Grady’s effort looked the decider but Pat Ryan’s men found the response to eliminate Limerick from the reckoning ahead of their Tralee encounter with Kerry.

Scorers for Limerick: David Reidy 0-9f, Darragh O’Donovan 1-0, Shane O’Brien, Aidan O’Connor 0-2 each, Oisín O’Reilly, Barry Murphy, Conor O’Grady 0-1 each.

Limerick: David McCarthy; Richie English, Fergus O’Connor, Aaron Costello; Mark Quinlan, Dan Morrissey, Ciarán Barry; Darragh O’Donovan, Robbie Hanley; Aidan O’Connor, David Reidy, Tom Morrissey; Shane O’Brien, Barry Murphy, Oisín O’Reilly. Subs: Rory Duff for Hanley, Micheál Houlihan for O’Connor (both 53), Ronan Connolly for Barry (57), Jimmy Quilty for O’Connor, Darren O’Connell for O’Reilly (both 62), Conor O’Grady for O’Donovan (64).