Drogheda United boss Kevin Doherty demands better for Tallaght showdown against Shamrock Rovers
The Boynesiders needed a stoppage-time Ryan Brennan penalty to see off Cork City, and Doherty accepted that defensive errors his team have made in recent games could be costly if they're repeated in Tallaght (kick-off 7.45pm) for a game that is being screened live on Virgin Media TV. However, he's not about to abandon the playing system that has kept his team on top of the Premier Division for most of the season so far.
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Everything about it was staggering: the suffocating intensity, the twists, the spectacular scores and the crazy misses. Cork and Limerick were locked in a clench from teatime until shortly before bedtime and neither of them knew how to let go. The longest night in the history of the Munster Championship ended with a penalty shoot-out and a season set ablaze. Hallelujah. After being eviscerated by Limerick in the round-robin phase, Cork reclaimed everything they had lost three weeks ago. All the doubts about their temperament and their stomach for the fight were obliterated. This group of Cork players couldn't afford to fall over again. They stood up to everything Limerick could muster. The cruelty of penalties is a modern phenomenon in the GAA. For an epic contest such as this to be decided by such a capricious tiebreaker is a function of the condensed calendar and, no doubt, there will be another chorus of dissent. There should be. In the event, Limerick's third and fourth penalties missed the target; in between Alan Connolly buried a penalty with characteristic panache. After nearly 100 minutes, that was the only difference. READ MORE The psychological capital for Cork is incalculable. After their late collapse in Ennis and their abject surrender in the Gaelic Grounds three weeks ago, there were widespread doubts about Cork's credentials as serious contenders. This performance was the only credible answer. Aaron Gillane scores a late point for Limerick. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho The teams were level 17 times in all, but it was Cork who found the equaliser at the end of normal time and at the conclusion of extra-time. Limerick had chances to finish the game in 70 minutes, but Darragh O'Donovan dropped a shot short and Aaron Gillane missed a free from an acute angle. Cork had earned their reprieve. For Limerick there is an obvious cost. For the first time since their breakthrough season in 2018 they must navigate a quarter-final in a fortnight's time, and for an ageing team that is a tax they would prefer not to pay. John Kiely has never made any secret of his fondness for the month long break granted to provincial winners but they must do without it now. At various times in the second half of normal time, when they were playing with the wind, it looked like Limerick would assert control and kick on. But they couldn't. Cork's four-point half-time lead was wiped out in just 11 minutes, but from there until the finish they never led by more than a point. In normal time they managed just 28 shots from play when they would usually expect to register that many scores, or more. When Cork beat them in the round-robin game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh 13 months ago they were the first team to have more shots than Limerick in the Kiely era. Here, they exceeded Limerick's total by eight shots. For Limerick, a team whose potency is built on volume, this was a massive systems failure. Primary possession had been a massive problem for Cork three weeks ago, but that core issue was successfully addressed too. Cork won 59 per cent of their own puck-outs and restricted Limerick to 62 per cent on their own ball; that game that a platform to compete. Cork's Tommy O'Connell in action against Limerick's Barry Nash. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho The biggest difference, though, was Cork's aggression and abrasiveness and relentlessness. From the start they stood in the middle of the ring and traded body blows. They were ravenous for turnovers and flew into contests for ball on the ground. This was the fundamental stuff that Pat Ryan has demanded from this group for the last three years but had been so painfully absent three weeks ago. Cian Lynch was hounded by the outstanding Ciaran Joyce and a posse of lieutenants. Diarmaid Byrnes was tormented by Seamus Harnedy, just as he was in the game 13 months ago, and eventually the Limerick wing back was taken off. Kyle Hayes was magnificent in the opening 20 minutes, but by half-time Shane Barrett had scored 1-3 from play on his watch, and for the remainder of the game Hayes was just another bamboozled mortal, going around with his tongue hanging out like everybody else. In a game like this, with both teams going at each other like rutting stags, the referee was bound to be part of the story. Members of both management teams made a bolt for Tomas Walsh as he left the field at half-time and ended up getting stuck in each other. There was pushing and jostling and jawing and shaping and all of it was out or order. It was clear during the first half, though, that both managers had become increasingly wound up by Walsh's refusal to penalise obvious fouls – or at least when it suited them. The fourth official and the linesman on the Mackey Stand side were on the receiving end of constant feedback and hot takes. Limerick's Cian Lynch after the game. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Just like Brian Cody's Kilkenny years ago, Kiely's Limerick are usually sanguine about matches where the physical contact is unregulated and Cork clearly came to the Gaelic Grounds with the stomach for a battle. Walsh granted permission for illegal contact all over the field and both teams flaked away. In these situations, though, everyone loves the spectacle until they're gasping for a free and there's an unpenalized foul in front of the goal for an offence that had also gone unpenalized in the middle of the field. For Cork's first goal, Brian Hayes and Patrick Horgan were both mangled by Limerick defenders, but Walsh's hand wasn't raised for an advantage before Shane Barrett whipped the ball to the net. There were no laws in the jungle. Walsh booked four players in the first 10 minutes of the second half but there was no end to the viral fouling. It would have been the most delicious of ironies if the game had been decided by a free, but Gillane's effort from an acute angle in the fourth minute of stoppage time flew wide of the far post. Limerick will feel like they blew it, which is the same feeling they had against Cork twice last year. The wheel has turned again.
