John Horgan on hurling: What Cork learned about Dublin's shock win over Limerick

Hands up, how many saw this coming?

Dublin playing with a man down for the best part of an hour turning over the most successful hurling county of the modern era and ending all the talk of a Cork-Limerick trilogy in the All-Ireland final next month.

Without any shadow of a doubt, Dublin's fully deserved victory over Limerick has to be the story of the hurling year up to now, the story of the hurling championship for many a long day. They have nothing to show for it, not yet anyway but this Dublin victory has to rank as one of the finest performances ever produced by a hurling team from the capital city.

Everybody knows the difficulties that have to be encountered when a team has to perform with a reduced number of players with the high-intensity levels that the intercounty game has now reached and in most instances, you are going to fall short, all the more so when you lose a player so early in a game.

In the past, the chances of coping might have been greater but in the modern game, it can take a herculean effort to get past the winning post, in this case one of the greatest hurling teams of all times as this Limerick team are rightly regarded.

Let's be honest, when Cork inched their way past John Kiely's team after a penalty shootout in an epic Munster final the general consensus was that the final had been a full dress rehearsal for the big day in the big house in July.

Of course, that talk was too premature altogether with Kilkenny, Tipperary, Dublin and to a lesser extent the unknown quantity that Galway usually are still very much in the equation.

Dublin, though, had shown very little in the Leinster championship to be considered a serious contender and their victory over Joe McDonagh Cup winners Kildare was looked upon as of little or no relevance. At the same time, it was an opportunity to hone the skills and to sharpen up on their final deliveries.

Last Saturday, it could be said, was the day that everything changed, the day the hurling world was turned upside down.

FIRED UP

One of the great motivational tools for any team across the sporting landscape is to be written off as almost no-hopers, it is the fuel that really ignites the fire.

This column is devoted entirely to what Dublin did in Croke Park last Saturday and that's for obvious reasons, they play Cork next Saturday week in the All-Ireland semi-final at the same venue.

And despite how magnificently they performed against Limerick, Dublin will again be carrying a fairly large underdog tag in that game.

They won't be written off to the same extent that they were against Limerick but Pat Ryan's team, through no fault of theirs, will be the hottest of fancies.

The thinking might well be that Dublin will not be able to replicate the type of effort that they produced against Limerick, that you cannot come from near to nowhere to contest an All-Ireland final.

And after all, they will be facing a Cork team that has already bagged two major trophies this season thus far, the national league title and a Munster championship that is far ahead of its Leinster counterpart.

In terms of development, Cork appear to be much further down that road but wasn't it a similar story with Limerick?

But that type of talk will be quickly dismissed in the Cork camp, the management, the management of any team for that matter, cannot control a lot of the nonsense that is spoken in advance of any game and the crazy odds on offer, like the Dubs were 12/1 last weekend.

Make no mistake about it, on the evidence of the performance that Dublin produced last Saturday they are an outfit that will not be taken lightly anymore.

Of the four counties now remaining in the chase for the Liam MacCarthy Cup, they will still be ranked fourth. And isn't that an ideal position to be in? 

Once Dublin captain, Chris Crummey had departed the proceedings after just 15 minutes for a tackle on Limerick's Gearoid Hegarty, the thinking was that it was going to be a Limerick victory and maybe with plenty to spare.

But it certainly did not pan out that way at all and those who thought that the sending-off of such a key player was going to have a deflating effect on the Dubs, the very opposite was the case.

Thereafter they rose their game to Trojan heights, they led at the interval and any time that Limerick seemed to be getting the upper-hand their response was a joy to behold.

MASTER STROKE

The introduction of big John Hetherton after half-time was a master stroke and he proceeded to have a huge influence on the remainder of the contest.

His aerial ability, his physical prowess caused consternation every time the ball landed down on top of the Limerick defence.

It's not too often that Limerick full-back Dan Morrissey is counteracted but Hetherton was a dominating presence every time the ball arrived.

He fired home a quite sublime goal followed quickly by another from Cian O'Sullivan and the Dublin cat was now firmly fired in among the Limerick pigeons. 

The St Vincent's clubman Hetherton certainly added a different dimension to the Dublin attack.

So, what will have impressed the watching Cork management the most?

Quite a lot one would have to suggest, a terrifically unified approach after the sending-off, the workrate and the fierce type of hunger that they exhibited, something we hadn't seen from a Dublin hurling team for many years.

There was some individual brilliance throughout the field led by Conor Burke who rifled over five points from open play.

Sean Currie was outstanding too while Ronan and Brian Hayes and all the defence put their bodies on the line en route to one of Dublin's greatest-ever hurling days.

Goalkeeper Sean Brennan produced a point-blank save for the ages from Aaron Gillane, a massive moment.

It's always easy to be wise after any event but should we have seen some bits of slippage over the last 12 months from Limerick?

They had lost to Cork three times in the championship and in their opening game in Munster this time they could not get past a Tipp team that had been awful last season and who had lost heavily to Cork in the league final.

Maybe, just maybe they had not been the team that won the four-in-a-row.

Nothing is ever read too much into challenge games but Dublin and Limerick had played a game back in January and, by all accounts, it was a fairly lively encounter. Was there something in that game that might have benefited Dublin, however slight it was?

Who knows and Cork are now next in line for a team that appears to be superbly handled by team boss, Niall Ó Ceallacháin.

And, as they say, from a Cork perspective being forewarned is forearmed.