Cork 1-16; Limerick 1-16
The setting was a far cry from the battle of high summer in which Cork lowered Limerick’s sights for a five-in-a-row but the intent from both sides was still the same at a wet and windswept Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday evening.
It took a free 10 minutes into added time from the Rebels’ star man Darragh Fitzgibbon for the hosts to secure a share of the spoils in front of a brave 23,500 fans.
It was a game which roused the character of both sides and there was never much between them right down to the added 10 minutes. Three minutes before shooting a point to cut the lead to the minimum and you wondered how much time would be added after that by referee Sean Stack.
The answer was - time enough for the Cork ace to bend and strike and send the majority of the big crowd home happy that they had rescued something out of a game that Limerick had looked the slightly more likelier.
The game was something of a roller-coaster as Cork shot into a five-point lead before surrendering territory and scores which saw them a similar amount in arrears.
Jason Gillane, brother of scoring ace Aaron, made his debut between the Limerick sticks in place of the injured Nickie Quaid and he landed two long range frees.
There was a new rule too for Kyle Hayes who took over at centre-back in place of Dermot Hannon while a new look forward line saw impressive showings from both Aidan O’Connor and Patrick O’Donovan.
Cork’s ability to blow hot and cold showed up in the first half when they hit seven points in a 12 minute purple patch and then went stone cold with only one further point to their credit for the rest of the half.
Limerick mirrored their approach when they added four of the first five after half-time and looked as if they might draw away from their opponent.
Cork then produced a peach of a move involving four players and which ended with Shane Barrett let fly with a rocket for his side’s only major of the game to cut the deficit to two - 1-9 to 1-7.
Gillane’s two massive points steadied the Treaty ship as they led by four with seven mins left.
Brian Hayes got at the end of a long-range free to flick over and then repeated the feat - this left it all down to Fitzgibbon who got the last two scores to see honors even at the sound of the long whistle.
Cork: P Collins; N O’Leary, G Millerick, E Roche; T O’Mahony (0-1f), C Joyce, C O’Brien; L Meade (0-1), E Twomey (0-1); D Fitzgibbon (0-10, 0-9f), S Barrett (1-0), S Kingston (0-1); B Hayes (0-2), P Power, A Connolly Subs: P Horgan for Power (17, inj), M Coleman for Kingston (49), C Lehane for Connolly (59), B Roche for Lehane (62, inj), R Cotter for Barrett (67).
Limerick: J Gillane (0-2f); S Finn, D Morrissey, B Murphy; D Byrnes (0-1f), K Hayes, C Coughlan; A English (0-4, 0-3f), W O’Donoghue (1-0); G Hegarty, C Lynch (0-2), A O’Connor (0-2); D Ó Dálaigh, S O’Brien (0-1), P O’Donovan (0-4, 0-1f) Subs: D Reidy for Hegarty (15, temp), F O’Connor for Finn (h-t), C Scully for Byrnes (45), S Flanagan for Ó Dálaigh (49), M Houlihan for O’Donovan (50), E Stokes for O’Donoghue (57, temp).
