Limerick v Cork live updates: All-Ireland hurling semi-final
37 mins: Immediately from the throw-in for the second half it goes the way of the first and Fitzgibbon scores. Then Patrick Horgan scores his 700th point with a nice flicked score. Back level. Cathal O’Neill then with a great point after a flick from Lynch. Shane Barrett then scores. So four scores in less than two minutes to start this half! Madness.
Limerick 0-17 Cork 1-14
Brilliant game here at Croke Park. Cork showed high intensity for the first 20 minutes and were flying past Limerick with some great scores, including a goal by Brian Hayes, to take a five-point lead. But Limerick eased into the half and started to get control of their defence and midfield and turned the screw to give themselves a two-point lead at the break. Still plenty to play for Cork, who have matched Limerick for large periods, but whether they can keep it up for 70 minutes remains to be seen.
Here is the Hayes goal:
A nice Limerick score by Reidy after a great pass by Hegarty:
38 mins: Another score for Limerick, David Reidy with a great catch and another good point. Cathal O’Neill tries for an opportunist score but misses. Shane Barrett shows his pace and goes for goal but saved by Quaid, but goes over the bar. That’s the half over.
HALF-TIME: Limerick 0-16 Cork 1-11
35 mins: Declan Dalton’s free goes short and cleared by Limerick. Slightly scrappy few minutes of the game, delay might have taken a bit of momentum out of the game. Byrnes has a long free, which he scores, that will be great for his confidence.
Limerick 0-15 Cork 1-10
33 mins: Connolly scores an important one for Cork to keep within one. A delay to take a breath as Flanagan and Downey get yellow cards for pushing and shoving. Shane Kingston on for Horgan in a blood sub.
Limerick 0-14 Cork 1-10
30 mins: Cynical foul by Finn after a great pass by Fitzgibbon to O’Mahony. Now Horgan for his 700th point, looked like an easy one this time to level the scores, but he misses inexplicably. Very poor game from the Cork legend so far. Limerick punish with Hegarty winning a high ball and laying off to Gillane to score.
Limerick 0-14 Cork 1-9
28 mins: Gillane scores from a free to level the scores again. Hegary hits a beautiful long pass to Reidy who catches and all of a sudden Limerick are ahead.
Limerick 0-13 Cork 1-9
26 mins: Another miss by Horgan. Punished by Limerick as Lynch gets a nice score from the wing. Patrick Collins then hits a very poor puckout straight to Gillane who scores. Too many errors last five minutes from Cork. We’re level. Then another goal chance from Cork, Hayes nearly gets another with a flick over the keeper, but over the bar to put Cork ahead again.
Limerick 0-11 Cork 1-9
24 mins: Cathal O’Neill scores from the middle of the field and all of a sudden Limerick have score three in a row. Then a goal chance. Limerick had numbers over and Collins saves from Gillane brilliantly!
Limerick 0-9 Cork 1-8
22 mins: Point for Morrissey from the left after sharp work by Reidy. Byrnes wins the puckout and scores from absolutely miles out. Amazing score.
Limerick 0-8 Cork 1-8
20 mins: Byrnes hits into the keeper’s hand and Cork play it long again. Connolly bursts through again and under pressure he throws the ball and while it’s finished in the back of the net, it’s disallowed. Point from Hayes only a few moments later to bring it to a five-point lead.
Limerick 0-6 Cork 1-8
18 mins: GOAL FOR CORK! Barry Hayes with a goal, Harnedy plays it inside, he beats his man for pace and buries it in the corner. Then Limerick with a goal chance but Gillane slips and a free out for throwing the ball.
Limerick 0-6 Cork 1-7
16 mins: Patrick Horgan hits the post from a free as he tries to score his 700th point. Harnedy scores though off his left a few moment later. Hegarty then misses an easy chance, unusual.
Limerick 0-6 Cork 0-7
14 mins: Goal attempt by Connolly from a long ball but it’s at the sidenetting. David Reidy pushes away the Cork defender from the puckout and scores powerfully to level the scores before Connolly misses a chance of a point.
Limerick 0-6 Cork 0-6
12 mins: Blink and you’d miss this! Some 11 scores in as many minutes. Harnedy beats his man and shoots off his left from the middle of the pitch. Lovely pass then by Harnedy flicking it into Mark Coleman who scores superbly. Morrissey catches the puckout and then hits a beautiful score.
Limerick 0-5 Cork 0-6
10 mins: Cathal O’Neill scores a great one from near the sideline after a nice assist from Lynch. Long ball then to Gillane, but Flanagan collects and smoothly slots one over the bar.
Limerick 0-4 Cork 0-4
8 mins: Cork keep up the intensity and Alan Connolly scores a point, followed up 20 seconds later by Fitzgibbon winning the puckout and putting it straight over. Cork had four without reply but Cork penalised for overcarrying and a Limerick free. Gillane sticks it over.
Limerick 0-2 Cork 0-4
6 mins: Another miss by Morrissey, Fitzgibbon misses too. Quaid’s puckout is caught by Cork and they win a free from distance. Dalton scores and Cork take the lead.
Limerick 0-1 Cork 0-2
4 mins: Eoin Downey blocks down a shot from Seamus Flanagan, Byrnes misses the 65. Limerick winning a lot of the breaking ball early on though. Tom Morrissey misses from range before Robert Downey sprints through the middle and score powerfully to level the scores.
Limerick 0-1 Cork 0-1
2 mins: First point of the day from Aaron Gillane, expect him to score plenty today!
Limerick 0-1 Cork 0-0
Full house today in Croke Park, quite the spectacle!
Limerick’s Mike Casey and Cian Lynch take to the field. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Limerick and Clare teams are as they were in the original team sheets. Here they are again:
LIMERICK: Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Mike Casey; Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Kyle Hayes; Will O’Donoghue, Cathal O’Neill; Gearóid Hegarty, Cian Lynch, Tom Morrissey; Aaron Gillane, Seamus Flanagan, David Reidy. Subs: Jason Gillane, Conor Boylan, Colin Coughlan, Adam English, Richie English, Graeme Mulcahy, Shane O’Brien, Aidan O’Connor, Fergal O’Connor, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Darragh O Donovan.
CORK: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Eoin Downey, Sean O’Donoghue; Tim O’Mahony, Robert Downey, Mark Coleman; Ciarán Joyce, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Declan Dalton, Shane Barrett, Seamus Harnedy; Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes. Subs: Brion Saunderson, Damien Cahalane, Ger Mellerick, Tommy O’Connell, Luke Meade, Ethan Twomey, Conor Lehane, Jack O’Connor, Shane Kingston, Padraig Power, Robbie O’ Flynn.
Nicky English writes in his column that Cork’s emergence as the fourth county is just what hurling needs. “For the past two years we have had Clare and Kilkenny in one semi-final and Limerick and Galway in the other but Cork bring a different dimension.
“Limerick have had the four-week adjustment since the Munster final, which they are old hands at managing and coming into Croke Park in a higher gear than in Munster. They can certainly be depended upon to be at a different register than two months ago.
“Diarmaid Byrnes is back in form and although Barry Nash is a loss if he doesn’t play – he’s their main distributor from the back – Seán Finn’s arrival is not going to hurt them defensively and may even be a benefit in controlling the chaos and shutting down that Cork madness.
“If Cork can re-release the genie, we’ve a match but they’ll need to create that chaos and score goals but Limerick’s middle third has looked ominously closer to being back to their best.”
[ Nicky English: Limerick look best bet to make another hurling final ]
Clare came back against Kilkenny yesterday in a thrilling finale to the semi-final. Faced with a third successive semi-final defeat by Kilkenny, Clare outstared the abyss to reach a first final in 11 years, writes Seán Moran. Manager Brian Lohan said:
““There was that pressure – to lose three in a row up here, on the back of three in a row in Munster – but sometimes you just get fed up and it has to stop some time. Things turn around when you work hard and our lads work hard.”
[ Brian Lohan: ‘Sometimes you just get fed up and it has to stop some time’ ]
Denis Walsh writes that chastening days in Croke Park at Limerick’s hands have fed into Cork’s recent evolution.
“Where are Cork now? In the Gaelic Grounds last year Cork outscored Limerick by six points in the last 10 minutes and lost by a point; in Páirc Uí Chaoimh this year they outscored Limerick by six points in the last seven minutes and won by two. They had more shots than Limerick in this fixture for the first time in five years, according to O’Connor. Cork were aggressive. They won the puck-out battle. They didn’t play with fear. Or deference.”
Can they continue that evolution today?
[ Rebel project paused and shaped by Limerick’s hurling lessons ]
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the second All-Ireland semi-final between Limerick and Cork, throw-in at 4pm at Croke Park. Yesterday, Clare came from behind to beat Kilkenny, and the Banner will face one of these two in the final. The favourites are undoubtedly Limerick, who are chasing five All-Irelands in a row, and six in seven years. What will give Cork hope though is they beat Limerick by two points in the Munster championship in a belter of a game. The Rebels scored an incredible 3-28 that day. That sort of points total might be needed again to beat the champions.
LIMERICK: Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Mike Casey; Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Kyle Hayes; Will O’Donoghue, Cathal O’Neill; Gearóid Hegarty, Cian Lynch, Tom Morrissey; Aaron Gillane, Seamus Flanagan, David Reidy. Subs: Jason Gillane, Conor Boylan, Colin Coughlan, Adam English, Richie English, Graeme Mulcahy, Shane O’Brien, Aidan O’Connor, Fergal O’Connor, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Darragh O Donovan.
CORK: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Eoin Downey, Sean O’Donoghue; Tim O’Mahony, Robert Downey, Mark Coleman; Ciarán Joyce, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Declan Dalton, Shane Barrett, Seamus Harnedy; Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes. Subs: Brion Saunderson, Damien Cahalane, Ger Mellerick, Tommy O’Connell, Luke Meade, Ethan Twomey, Conor Lehane, Jack O’Connor, Shane Kingston, Padraig Power, Robbie O’ Flynn.
