Limerick v Cork: Positives for Ben O'Connor despite disappointment of defeat

While the outcome at TUS Gaelic Grounds on Saturday night was not the one Cork wanted, manager Ben O’Connor felt that the defeat to Limerick will serve as a learning experience.

A Rebels side featuring just seven of the starters from the Munster SHC final win over the same opposition at the same venue last June managed to stick with their opponents for three quarters of the game before Limerick went into overdrive but O’Connor could still take solace from the display.

“Ah, disappointed with the result,” he said.

“We were well in it until the middle of the second half, they got on top of us then but we fought back well again in the last ten minutes.

“Delighted with the performance, disappointed with the result.”

Limerick looked likelier victors for long periods but it wasn’t until they blitzed Cork for an unanswered 2-5 in a 13-minute period to go 12 ahead that their supremacy was franked.

“We found it hard to get a foothold, they took over in the middle third and it took us a while to get to grips with,” O’Connor said.

“But when we did, our fellas battled back again and we had the few that had to go off with injuries, Dáire [O’Leary] and Eoin Roche. We'll learn a lot from it.

“Disappointed we didn't get goal chances, they'll come another day. A learning experience for a lot of our fellas that wouldn't have had that kind of a game under their belt.

“I think we learned enough of them tonight to see that we have plenty fellas good enough to play at this level.”

The eight-point margin at the end was more favourable than might have materialised after Limerick’s surge and so Cork’s response to score five of the last six points was encouraging for O’Connor.

“We got a foothold again and got a few scores,” he said.

“The disappointing thing is that we never looked like getting a goal. You are always going to need a couple of goals if you are going to beat Limerick.

“A worthwhile exercise, got game-time into a lot of fellas. Just disappointed with the result because we set out our stall to win every game this year.

“Now that's out of the way, we just move onto Offaly in a couple of weeks' time.”

In that sense, Limerick was a free hit for Cork as they know that any positive result against the already-relegated Faithful County will be sufficient to make the final for a second straight year.

Limerick join Cork on eight points and they will similarly know that a win or a draw at home to Galway will be enough to set up a re-match – however, victory for the Tribesmen could put them in the decider. O’Connor is focused on his team’s chances.

“We have Offaly in two weeks’ time and we'll look after our own side of things again,” O’Connor said.

“It’s in our hands, we’ll be going out to win that, and if we do, we are guaranteed a league final.

“If we were told that at the start of the year that we’d have only have been beaten in one game and only have to win one more game to get into a league final, we’d have taken that.”

De