'First stop will be Charleville!' - man of the match Darragh Fitzgibbon relishing Rebels' victory

Official man-of-the-match Darragh Fitzgibbon said he would never have lived it down had he missed the 65 that sent the game to penalties. 

The Charleville clubman is too close to the Limerick border.

He also noted that striving to be as good as their near neighbours has made Cork a better team.

“I knew I was a bit far out for the first free but there was a strong wind and I said I would have a go. Then, the 65, I knew I had to try and nail it. Being so close to Limerick I would never have heard the end of it. I had to score it.

“I have nothing but respect for Limerick for what they’ve done, six Munster titles in-a-row, four All-Irelands in-a-row and another All-Ireland on to that. They’ve raised everyone else’s level in the country. Everyone tries to get to their level and they’ve made us better.

“It was two great teams going at it. If you played it probably 10 more times there could have been a different result. But thank God we're on the right side and it is just a great feeling.

“It is a privilege to put on the Cork jersey everyday. Just living your dream really with all of these lads. Trying to make the most of it while you have it because you don’t have it for too long.” There was no problem getting psyched up following last month’s sub-standard display.

“Of course we were pumped up but if you can’t get up for a Munster final you don’t deserve to be there. We stayed level headed, we don’t get too up or we don’t get too down. We won’t get too up unless we lift the Liam McCarthy Cup.

“We know we are a long way away from that but it is a reward for all the players. Munster is so hard. Then you come up against one of the greatest teams in their home patch. We gave it our all and it is just great to be on the right side of it.

“Four weeks off is great, important to get the bodies right. Munster championship is a gruelling campaign. We’ll just relax now for a few days and we will get back training.

“We know as a group we still have two steps to where we want to go and we’ll take nothing for granted.” 

When asked if he knew he was going to be one of the five players taking a penalty, he answered with a smile, “as you can see from my penalty I didn’t practice any of them.

“First stop will be Charleville!"