Rival managers differ on referee changeover as Cork end Limerick's Munster reign

Irish Daily Mirror

5 hours ago

Limerick 2-27 Cork 1-30 AET - Cork win 3-2 on penalties.
A 15th final for John Kiely as Limerick manager and a first defeat.
Well, kind of. His side were leading at the end of normal time and extra time only for Cork to get the scores to force an extra 20 minutes and, ultimately, penalties, where they came unstuck.
It was the first time a top tier hurling Championship game was decided in this fashion, which wouldn't be satisfactory to many and, indeed, the Munster Council wouldn't have been averse to a replay and surely another sellout at Páirc Uí Chaoimh after 43,580 paid in here.
But, in the end, Conor Lehane, Shane Kingston and Alan Connolly scored their penalties for Cork, rendering Darragh Fitzgibbon's miss irrelevant in the end as Barry Murphy, Tom Morrissey and Declan Hannon failed to find the target for Limerick after Diarmaid Byrnes and Aaron Gillane had dispatched their first two.
'I think everybody would agree that it's in normal play that a game should be finished,' said Kiely. 'But listen, these are the rules, these are the procedures and we have to go with that, you know.
'Fair play to Cork. They took the penalties when it came around. In fairness to Pat [Ryan], Pat has done a fantastic job with that Cork team and, you know, to come down here and to get a win, is a serious achievement in a Munster final and we have to acknowledge that.'
Kiely and his Cork counterpart Ryan made eight substitutions each over the course of the evening but there was another required on top of that as linesman James Owens had to take the whistle from Thomas Walsh in the first half of extra time, the Waterford official going down seemingly with cramp.
There was a feeling that Walsh had refereed the game too loosely, but implicit in Kiely's praise of his performance was criticism of how Owens assumed the role.
That injury time at the end of extra time extended beyond three minutes, allowing Fitzgibbon to convert a 65 to bring the tie to penalties, was one bone of contention for Kiely.
'I'd have to go and study it and watch it,' he said. 'You know, I thought Thomas did a great job, you and it was a pity that he got injured. But I thought he did a fantastic job.
'So, you know, we have to move on now. That's the end of the Munster Championship for us. I'm very, very happy with our performance levels right throughout the Munster Championship.
'We'll reset, we'll take a little breather now for the next few days, and I've no doubt the men in that dressing room will regroup, dust themselves down, and will really want to push forward now and, you know, be the very best that they can be in the remainder of this Championship.'
The rival managerial camps had both made for Walsh at half-time of normal time amid a questionable call that had gone in Limerick's favour just before the whistle, and Ryan wasn't so perturbed about the subsequent transition from Walsh to Owens.
'I'll tell you now, that game was going so long now, I didn't notice, I couldn't tell you about referees or things,' said the Cork boss. 'What you're doing is you're just fighting tooth and nail for every ball.'
For Ryan and Cork, while nobody seriously believed that they were 16 points worse than Limerick after losing to them by that margin three weeks earlier and a response from them was always likely, it was still a notable feat to return to the Gaelic Grounds and contain them when they had been so rampant.
'To be honest, we were just focused on coming up here and really going to battle with Limerick and represent the jersey, represent our people,' said Ryan.
'The last day, the people are spending money to come up here and we didn't give them any value for money the last day. I think both teams gave fierce value for money to their supporters today and to everyone.'
In terms of entertainment, it was certainly a game that kept people engaged throughout, though the quality was lacking on both sides and Kiely acknowledged that afterwards.
He added: 'I think both teams possibly didn't hit the markers that they might have been hoping to hit. I think both will look back on their performance and feel it could have been better.
'All you can do is do your best. And I thought that our boys gave absolutely everything they had in the tank and I can, you only be proud of that. I think we'll regroup, we'll refresh, we'll come again.'
LIMERICK: Nickie QUAID 7; Seán FINN 7, Dan MORRISSEY 7, Mike CASEY 7; Diarmaid BYRNES (0-1f) 6, Kyle HAYES 7, Barry NASH 7; Adam ENGLISH (0-3) 7, William O'DONOGHUE 6; Gearóid HEGARTY (0-2) 7, Cian LYNCH 7, Tom MORRISSEY (0-2) 7; Aaron GILLANE (0-9, 0-7f) 8, Aidan O'CONNOR (1-1) 6, David REIDY (0-3) 7.
Subs: Shane O'Brien (1-2) for O'Connor (42), Peter Casey (0-1) for Reidy (55), Cathal O'Neill (0-1) for Tom Morrissey (55), Darragh O'Donovan (0-1) for O'Donoghue (65), Declan Hannon (0-1) for Byrnes (70), Barry Murphy for M Casey (70), Tom Morrissey for Hegarty (79), Byrnes for Lynch (90+4).
CORK: Patrick COLLINS 7; Damien CAHALANE (0-1) 6, Eoin DOWNEY (0-1) 6, Sean O'DONOGUE 6; Mark COLEMAN 7, Ciarán JOYCE 7, Cormac O'BRIEN 6; Tim O'MAHONY (0-1) 7, Darragh FITZGIBBON (0-4, 0-1f, 0-1 '65') 8; Diarmuid HEALY (0-3) 8, Shane BARRETT (1-3) 8, Séamus HARNEDY (0-2) 7; Patrick HORGAN (0-7, 0-4f) 7, Brian HAYES (0-1) 7, Alan CONNOLLY (0-1) 6.
Subs: Robert Downey for O'Brien (54), Tommy O'Connell (0-1) for O'Mahony (59), Shane Kingston (0-3) for Connolly (65), Robbie O'Flynn for Harnedy (68), Conor Lehane (0-2) for Horgan (70+3), Niall O'Leary for O'Donoghue (72), Brian Roche for Healy (80), Connolly for Coleman (84).
REFEREE: Thomas Walsh (Waterford), James Owens (Wexford).
QUOTE ME ON THAT
'There's no dress rehearsal for this. There's no practising for this. It's just put your best foot forward and you know, you're taking a shot on behalf of the group. It's not on the lads.'
Limerick manager John Kiely.
STAR MAN - Aaron Gillane (Limerick)
Not a game of outstanding individual performances and not one of Gillane's most prolific days, but so many scores came off him, including a deft set-up for Shane O'Brien's goal.
AN OTHER - Darragh Fitzgibbon (Cork)
A fine performance from the Cork midfielder, who coolly slotted the 65 to ensure penalties, only to miss one in the shootout himself. Thankfully for him, his teammates bailed him out.
UP NEXT
LIMERICK: All-Ireland quarter-final, June 21.
CORK: All-Ireland semi-final, July 5.