Christy O'Connor: Some league matches mean more than others, Cork showed that on Sunday

IN the 18th minute of Sunday’s Cork-Limerick game, seven players were condensed in a tight area close to the sideline when Seán O’Donoghue secured possession.

O’Donoghue barreled Tom Morrissey out of his way and onto the ground, but as soon as he turned back, O’Donoghue was ensnared in a trap set by Seamus Flanagan, Cathal O’Neill and Robbie Hanley.

O’Donoghue had to throw the ball over his head to try and smuggle it away but his attempted strike was blocked down. After Morrissey won the ruck ball, O’Donoghue was yellow-carded for pulling across him.

A huge roar rose up from the belly of the Mackey Stand. A couple of the Limerick players were roaring into the faces of the Cork players. The spark Limerick were craving seemed to have suddenly ignited.

David Reidy missed the free, but Limerick won the Cork puck-out and created the opening for Kyle Hayes to shoot. Yet his shot was again off target, which was Limerick’s sixth wide inside the opening 20 minutes.

From the resultant puck-out, Pa Collins went short to O’Donoghue, who used his bullet speed to charge into midfield before off-loading to Tim O’Mahony, who slipped the ball back to Robbie O’Flynn.

His long diagonal ball was outside and beyond Dan Morrissey and was brilliantly caught by Patrick Horgan, who set up Shane Kingston for Cork’s first goal.

Cork then turned over the resultant puck-out and Darragh Fitzgibbon rifled the ball back over Barry Hennessy’s crossbar.

Cork’s second goal was also brilliantly engineered, with a long puck-out from Collins snapped by Horgan who fed the onrushing Conor Lehane. His shot was stopped by Hennessy, but Kingston flashed in the rebound.

Similar to the immediate aftermath of the first goal, Cork won the resultant Limerick puck-out, which was spilled by Hanley. O’Flynn hoovered it up, laid it off to Horgan who slipped the ball through to Shane Barrett to score.

CLINICAL

Those two short sequences of play neatly encapsulated the match; Cork were far more clinical, but they were also keen to ensure that a sickening blow into Limerick’s midriff was immediately followed by a hard jab onto their chin.

The league will always only be the league, but some league matches mean far more than just the two points on offer. After the All-Ireland final hammering last August, Cork needed to make a stand and show that it wasn’t a true reflection of who they are. They did, but the display also reminded Limerick of what Cork are capable off, but which they didn’t show last year.

Cork will be delighted with the display, but they’ll also know that they’ll meet a totally different animal in seven weeks. Cork could only focus on themselves and beat what was put in front of them, but this was one of Limerick’s worst performances in years.

Apart from only having a 52% conversion rate, Limerick only manufactured 27 shots at the target, which is around half of their normal target of around 55, albeit those are championship figures.

Limerick turned over the ball on 38 occasions, numbers way above their average. Many of those turnovers were contaminated by unforced errors, sloppy first touch and poor decision making. Cork scored 0-4 off Limerick turnovers alone in the first quarter.

Four of the 15 puck-outs Limerick lost were conceded through missed first touches. Passes were dropped and spilled over the sideline when there was no heat on those Limerick players. Diarmuid Byrnes topped a free in the second half. So much of their execution was completely untypical considering the standards of excellence Limerick have set for so long. 

Limerick looked tired and leggy while Cork were far sharper and hungrier, especially around breaking and ruck ball. When the game was decided in the first half, Cork’s conversion rate was 79%. They also scored 2-7 off puck-outs in that period.

When Limerick rolled the big guns off their bench at half-time and ramped up the intensity in the third quarter to put far more heat on Cork in possession, Cork hit four successive wides. Yet they rode out that mini-storm and nailed their next three chances. Cork’s conversion rate was only 40% in the second half, but the game was over at half-time. Cork will be more concerned with turning the ball over 18 times in that period.

Cork will be delighted with some of their individual performances; Conor Lehane was excellent in the first half from 10 plays, scoring two points, creating the second goal and having a hand in another point. More importantly, Lehane’s work-rate was consistently high before running out of gas.

Horgan hit three wides from play, but he had four assists, including a significant part in the creation of both goals. Fitzgibbon also left his mark, particularly in setting the tone early on by his hard running at the Limerick defence which contributed to three assists in the first quarter.

Ger Mellerick showed why he was missed so much last August. 

Ciarán Joyce had another excellent game while this was also a huge breakthrough match for Daire O’Leary, who coped well on Seamus Flanagan in the first half before holding his own at centre-back after the break.

Cork looked really threatening with their attacking formation of Kingston and Horgan in a straight-line formation close together inside the 20-metre line, but Limerick will have analysed that strategy by the time the sides meet again in mid-April.

Limerick will be a totally different proposition by then. But if Cork can bring the same aggression, intensity and attitude to that championship contest, Limerick know they’ll be meeting a totally different animal too from last year.