Ben O'Connor: No time to dwell on league final loss as focus turns to Tipp

While Cork manager Ben O’Connor was left disappointed with a sloppiness in the team’s performance in Sunday’s Allianz HL Division 1A, he expects an improvement ahead of the Munster SHC opener against Tipperary.

The Rebels never led at TUS Gaelic Grounds on Sunday afternoon as Limerick built on a strong start.

“I suppose there was a strong breeze as well, which wasn't easy,” O’Connor said, “and I suppose we were lucky enough to get the goal that brought us back into it.

“Then, once we got a foothold we hurled away okay maybe for 20 or 25 minutes and they took over again then for a spell. I suppose they worked the ball better than we did, they got their scores easier than we did.

“We'll look back on the video and see where we can improve upon for this day two weeks."

If Cork come away from FBD Semple Stadium with victory over Tipp in a fortnight, the league final result will be largely forgotten. Asked if he feels Cork can go up a couple of levels between now and then, he was positive.

“We'll be hoping so,” he said, “time will tell.

“Sunday week, we'll see now but we didn't give it our best there, tried hard but I thought the hurling was sloppy at times.”

A three-point half-time deficit increased to six before Cork got it back to two but, even then, the sense of a full-blown turnaround did not feel strong.

“I suppose it probably suited us better against the breeze that the ball was dropping in front of our forwards, dropping in front of our forwards,” O’Connor said.

“The second half, they [Limerick] sat back and we had no room inside there so that's just something to look at. We've a lot of learnings to take from it and we'll improve from it.

“Sunday week now is the one.”

One possible goal effort might have materialised as Shane Barrett tried to play in Brian Hayes but he was penalised for a thrown pass.

“We couldn't see it from where we were,” O’Connor said.

“There was a few we got blown for, a couple of those overhead passes, they got away with a few.

“I'm not criticising that, it's down to a split-second by a referee. But if it goes one way, it has to go the other way.”

Diarmuid Healy and Brian and Eoin Roche are already ruled out of the championship clash, while Dáire O’Leary missed the league final and Seán O’Donoghue was forced off just before half-time.

“Dáire O’Leary hurt his hamstring the other night at training, so we don't know what the story is with that,” O’Connor said.

“He'll be scanned during the week. Duds [Healy] is a long-term injury, he only played the first two games, so he's out since. So, he has a serious enough injury, but look, they'll be all scanned and the medical boys will let us know during the week, or they're all fixed.

“[Seán O’Donoghue] got knocked in the head, so he was taken off, but he had a hamstring problem as well. I don't know whether it happened just before it or whether it was in the same tackle, but it saw him [off] on two counts. So, with the head injury, there's no point risking him with that and a touch of the hamstring as well.

“You know yourself, a minor hamstring is two or three weeks as well. He'll be scanned during the week and we'll see how that is.”