Chastening days in Croke Park at Limerick’s hands have shaped Cork’s recent development
The sides were level in the second minute of stoppage-time when Nickie Quaid made his everlasting block on Séamus Harnedy. Photograph: Tommy Dickson/InphoCork suffered. Limerick beat them in the 2018 All-Ireland semi-final when Cork were six points clear with eight minutes and 17 seconds of normal time remaining. They floored them in the 2021 All-Ireland final when Cork brought a knife to a gunfight and Limerick were halfway to being the greatest team of all time.
When Limerick fell six points behind Michael Duignan said in the RTÉ commentary that they would need a goal. The relationship in hurling between goals and points has changed profoundly in the last seven or eight years and Limerick were drivers of the new exchange rate. In the event, they scored seven points without reply.
The sides were level in the second minute of stoppage-time when Nickie Quaid made his everlasting block on Séamus Harnedy. Overlooked in that moment was Limerick’s scramble defence. Quaid lunged at Harnedy from the edge of the small square, but lined up behind the Limerick goalkeeper were three Limerick defenders and right behind Harnedy was a fourth, desperately trying to make a hook. In the years that followed such portraits of resistance would be repeated in a thousand different poses.
“I had a tough afternoon. Probably the toughest match I played, to be honest. Aaron Gillane caught a couple of balls over me in the first half, but you were very wary of him getting in behind, so I probably gave him a bit too much space. I knew at the time he was a very good player but he showed afterwards how good he actually was.”That was the thing: in 2018, nobody knew how good Limerick would become. It was unforeseeable. Unimaginable. By 2021, there were no mysteries.
Cork were conscious of it. A week before the All-Ireland final they played an A versus B game in Fota Island where only one free was awarded. They were trying to condition themselves for the onslaught to come but that kind of simulation was beyond their capacity. They weren’t a team that played with force. They couldn’t inflict it on one another.
The game was still alive after 15 minutes. “Cork are certainly not overawed at all by the occasion,” said Duignan in commentary. “For a young team to come here and start like this is very impressive.”Cork's Alan Cadogan dejected after the game. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho “They out-hurled us – physically, tactically, everything. They blew us out of the water. When you get to an All-Ireland final you want to do yourself justice. We didn’t do ourselves justice.”
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