John Horgan on hurling: Lethal Limerick showed us where Cork need to improve

It wasn't one of those classic Limerick and Cork championship confrontations that we have become accustomed to in recent years but that's a rarity in a league encounter in early March.

There are far bigger fish to be fried for these two over the coming weeks and months and no sleep is lost for the team that comes out second best.

When John Kiely and Ben O'Connor revealed their starting 15s for the latest instalment in the fierce rivalry that has been constructed by both counties, it was clearly obvious that Limerick were going into the game carrying the tag of favouritism.

They were going to be transporting the far heavier artillery, a team whose players' pockets were bulging with provincial and All-Ireland medals and a side that appeared much nearer their championship line-up.

For different reasons, mainly injury concerns, the emphasis on the Cork 15 was very much on the experimental with anything up to six or seven players who will be lining out in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on April 26 when the stakes will be miles higher marked absent.

Competition for a squad place, not to mind the first 15, is fierce in this current Cork set-up and any opportunity presented has to be grasped with both hands. Some of those given that opportunity have put forward a stronger case for inclusion, a few more than others.

However, with every passing game the road to the finishing line, as far as championship starters are concerned, is getting shorter. The time is fast arriving when it will be make your mind up time for those entrusted with that task.

In his after-match interview, Ben O'Connor stated that every Cork player emptied himself in the Gaelic Grounds last Saturday night. Few could quibble with that.

The greater experience in the Limerick ranks was illustrated in the final quarter of an hour when they struck for home and secured the scores that ultimately provided them with an emphatic victory.

SUPERIOR

The outcome was the right one, over the 70-plus minutes Kiely's men were superior and they had more ammunition coming down the home stretch.

Cork were certainly the more efficient side in the opening minutes and with eight on the clock, Limerick had managed just a solitary score, Shane O'Brien's well-executed goal as he pulled clear of the Cork defence to hammer home. The manner with which he found himself in the clear would have disappointed the Cork management.

Equally, the number of wides registered by Limerick in the opening sequences wasn't what was ordered.

However, as the game aged their final deliveries were much more clinical and from their perspective, the performance of Aidan O'Connor in the number 11 jersey was a huge positive. His recent displays in a Limerick shirt has put him in pole position to be a championship starter.

A scoring return of 1-11, four points from open play, represented a very good night's work again.

While Limerick fielded very strongly it must be noted too that there were some significant absentees, Pater Casey, Tom Morrissey (who came on), Dan Morrissey, impressive newcomer Matthew Fitzgerald and Darragh O'Donovan among them.

So, it's very much a case of Limerick and Cork being in the same boat, savage intensity for championship starting places and that competition for inclusion probably puts both ahead in the pecking order of All-Ireland contenders.

POSITIVES

While there would have been disappointment in the Cork camp at the outcome, at the same time, there were plenty of positives on the takeaway tray. Tim O'Mahony took over the free-taking duties and he could not be faulted in that regard.

Ben O'Connor is making sure that he has plenty of options in that department and if one has an off-day there are plenty more capable stepping up. O'Mahony, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Alan Connolly and Deccie Dalton are all highly proficient operators. 

From play, Tommy O'Connell fired over a hat-trick of points and he has to be odds on now to be starting in Thurles against Tipperary on the opening Sunday of the Munster championship.

Killeagh's Barry Walsh put in another fine shift, rifling over two sublime first-half points and those types of scores will further boost his confidence levels.

Cork will be disappointed that they conceded an unanswered 2-5 in the second half, effectively the losing of the match.

There's an ongoing debate around the county about who will be the occupant of the Cork number three jersey for that all-important championship joust with Tipperary next month and that will be occupying the thoughts of the management as that day looms ever larger.

When two counties scheduled for a big championship joust in a few weeks meet up in the secondary competition, a lot of conversation will centre around the winner of the league encounter gaining a bit of a psychological edge.

Is that the case now with Limerick? Not in the slightest because while they had the bulk of their championship team on duty on Saturday night. 

Cork, it might be said had only around half of the team that will line out when the sides clash again in April.

And recall last season between the two counties, Limerick trouncing Cork at the Round-Robin stage of the Munster championship and Cork bouncing back to reverse the result in the Munster final.

Yes, it was sorted by a penalty shoot-out but the records will show that Cork won the provincial title in 2025.

Therefore, the thinking has to be that while Limerick secured whatever sort of bragging rights existed on Saturday night, that won't make the slightest bit of difference in the championship.

Of course, there is the great likelihood that before that showdown, there will be another get-together in the league final.

If that comes to pass, the outcome might have greater relevance in the context of the championship, it's just a wait-and-see situation.

And while it would be a huge surprise if Cork failed to defeat Offaly at home next Sunday week and did not reach the league final, it's far less of a certainty that Limerick will be joining them.

They have a much tougher final group game on Sunday week against Galway, a Galway team that appears to be very much on an upward trajectory after the mother and father of hammerings that they dished out to Kilkenny last weekend.

However, if a betting person was placing their hard-earned shillings on who will contest the league final in three weeks, it would probably be on another Cork and Limerick instalment.

Cork's winning sequence has ended for now and probably no great surprise given the shortage of so many key players.

For 55 or so minutes in the Gaelic Grounds, they competed admirably and maybe the loss wasn't such a bad thing either.

And it adds more appeal to the Offaly game, which would have been a dead rubber if they had bagged the two points required to rubberstamp their place in the final.