Cork draw with Limerick in last Munster round robin game

Limerick 1-10 Cork 2-7

Honours even between Cork and Limerick in their TG4 Munster Senior B ladies football championship round robin game at Gerald Griffins GAA Club, Limerick, on Saturday.

It was a much-changed Cork side that took to the pitch with only five players that started against Clare starting as they had already qualified for the Munster final next Sunday.

It gave manager Brian Leamy and his selectors the chance to have a look at other players ahead of that game next weekend.

Aisling Moloney put Cork in front in the first minute, with Lucy O’Brien replying at the other end for the home side.

Limerick took the lead through a Tara Geoghegan free, and she added another to make it 0-3 to 0-1, after seven minutes.

Limerick were playing with a strong wind, but the Cork defence were making it difficult for them to create any goal chances, until the 10th minute.

Geoghegan was put through, but her shot went just wide.

Emma Cooney and Ava McCarthy pointed for Cork to see the sides level, before Cork went back in front.

A shot from Holly Fitzgerald came back off the post, with Eabha Nagle quickest to react to the breaking ball.

She was fouled by the Limerick keeper, Sophie Hennessy, and Cork were awarded a penalty.

Holly Quirke made no mistake to make it 1-3 to 0-5. Olivia McCarthy had the sides level before Quirke pointed from a free, to see the Rebels lead by 1-4 to 0-6 at half-time.

Caoimhe McNamara had Limerick back on level terms early in the second half, before Geoghegan put them back in front, 0-8 to 1-4.

A free from Quirke saw the sides level again, after 43 minutes, before Limerick were denied a goal.

Laoise Brown was put through, but her effort was superbly saved by Eimear O’Sullivan.

Olivia McCarthy put Limerick back in front, with Geoghegan on target again, to make it 0-10 to 1-5.

With eight minutes to go, Cork got their second goal when Amanda O’Sullivan burst forward to find the back of the net.

Two frees from Quirke had Cork 2-7 to 0-10 in front with time running out.

But credit to Limerick, they kept battling away and got a late goal to see it end level.

Geoghegan dropped a free in, and Brown picked up the ball to find the top corner of the net, giving O’Sullivan no chance of saving.

Cork will now face Clare in the Munster final next Sunday at Rathkeale in Limerick.

Scorers for Limerick: L Brown 1-0, T Geoghegan 0-4 (3f), O McCarthy 0-2, L O’Brien, M Creedon, A Russell, C McNamara 0-1 each.

Cork: H Quirke 1-4 (1-0 pen, 3f), A O’Sullivan 1-0, A Moloney, E Cooney, A McCarthy 0-1 each.

LIMERICK: S Hennessy; C Ryan, A Russell, R Fitzgibbon; A Ryan, M MacNamara, C Real; O Ryan, E Hickey; E Crowe, L O’Brien, O McCarthy; L Brown, T Geoghegan, M Creedon.

Subs: C McNamara for O Ryan, S Hickey for M Creedon (both ht).

CORK: E O’Sullivan; K Hourihan, E McGrath, R Coffey; S Ni Laoire, E Cooney, R Shanley; A McDonagh, K O’Donovan; A McCarthy, A McTaggart, H Quirke; A Moloney, H Fitzgerald, E Nagle.

Subs: S Pattwell for A Moloney, A O’Sullivan for R Shanley (both 35), M Beausang for E Cooney, C Dooley for H Fitzgerald (both 40), M Leahy for A McCarthy (48).

Referee: Seamus Mulvihill (Kerry).