Kieran Kingston says All-Ireland revenge wasn't on mind in Limerick victory

Kieran Kingston was at pains to stress that atonement wasn’t at the heart of yesterday’s dismantling of Limerick, yet he wasn’t altogether convincing.

In their three meetings in 2021, Limerick had a combined 32 points to spare over their Munster rivals, 16 of them in an awesome All-Ireland final display that rocked Cork back on their heels, for all the progress they made in various grades last year.

However, nothing about last year was put to Kingston post-match - only that Limerick, despite being in a rut just now, remain quite a scalp.

“We’re not looking backwards, that’s not the direction we’re going,” he replied. “We’re looking at the next training session, the next game. That happens to be Galway.

“The All-Ireland final wasn’t mentioned, since we played Offaly we haven’t mentioned it once - there's no point, I can’t change what I said to you 30 seconds ago, let alone what happened six months ago. The focus now is on the next training session.”

Although he cribbed about Limerick winning the second half by five points, the victory was more emphatic than he could possibly have imagined. Cork were tidy and efficient and look to be continuing on last year’s trajectory, but Limerick’s display was probably poorer than anything that they have served up in John Kiely’s six seasons at the helm.

Granted, there is experimentation at play and the stakes are particularly low in the League these days given that the competition structure effectively makes it a safe house from relegation for the top nine, but Limerick have more work to do before facing Cork again in the Championship opener on April 17 than Kiely would like.

Doubts about their depth of talent persist. Only eight players that started last August’s All-Ireland final were retained yesterday and of the other seven, five were replaced, three of them at half-time, and only goalkeeper Barry Hennessy could claim to have enhanced his reputation, not that anyone expects that Nickie Quaid won’t be between the posts in seven weeks’ time.

“We’re not looking at the broader picture of the Championship coming around the corner,” Kiely said. “We’re just focusing on working as hard as we can during the week, producing the best performance we can at the weekend.

“Of the three games so far, we’d be satisfied with only one of the performances. That’s the bottom line. Listen, we’ll go back to the field again in Rathkeale on Tuesday night. We’ll work hard on Tuesday night and we’ll try and be a better team next weekend.

“The players I know are hurting at the moment. They’re finding it difficult. But there is great character in this group. There is great leadership in this group.

“There’s tremendous ability in this group. And when these boys’ backs are put to the wall, I know the response they will give. I wouldn’t want to be in this position with any other bunch of men.”

Limerick led briefly in the opening minutes but they never settled at any stage of the first half. David Reidy was jittery on frees, missing three, while Cork punished their indiscipline with Patrick Horgan slotting four frees (and a 65) along with another from distance from Mark Coleman to push them 0-7 to 0-3 clear.

Horgan then burned Dan Morrissey to set Shane Kingston up for the opening goal in the 20th minute to establish a comfortable lead for Cork and they sped away from Limerick coming to half-time.

Kingston netted a second after Hennessy made a fine save from Conor Lehane in the 34th minute and the lead was 2-13 to 0-5.

There was still time for two red cards in first half injury time as Kingston was dismissed for a high tackle on Sean Finn before Seamus Flanagan walked for a similar offence on Niall O’Leary and while Limerick improved in the second half as Cork inevitably dropped off, there was never any suggestion that a comeback was on.

Cathal O’Neill finished brilliantly for Limerick’s only goal midway through the second half but the nine-point deficit that they whittled it down to in the end was as close as they got.

LIMERICK: Barry Hennessy 7; Aaron Costello 6, Dan Morrissey 6, Sean Finn 7; Colin Coughlan 5, Declan Hannon 6, Kyle Hayes 6; Darragh O’Donovan (0-1) 6, Robbie Hanley 5; Cathal O’Neill (1-1) 6, Cian Lynch (0-1) 6, Tom Morrissey 6; Darren O’Connell 5, Seamus Flanagan (0-1) 5, David Reidy (0-3, 0-2f) 5.

Subs: Richie English for Finn (35+2, BS), Diarmaid Byrnes (0-3f) for Coughlan (HT), Aaron Gillane (0-2f) for O’Connell (HT), William O’Donoghue for Hanley (HT), Graeme Mulcahy (0-1) for Reidy (48), Conor Boylan for O’Neill (54).

CORK: Patrick Collins 7; Sean O’Donoghue 7, Daire O’Leary 7, Niall O’Leary 7; Tim O’Mahony (0-1) 7, Ger Millerick 8, Mark Coleman (0-2, 0-1f) 8; Darragh Fitzgibbon (0-2) 8, Ciaran Joyce 7; Mark Keane 6, Conor Lehane (0-2) 7, Robbie O’Flynn (0-2) 7; Shane Kingston (2-0) 7, Patrick Horgan (0-8, 0-6f, 0-1 ‘65’) 7, Shane Barrett (0-1) 6.

Subs: Conor Cahalane (0-1) for Keane (40), Jack O’Connor for Lehane (46), Cormac O’Brien for O’Leary (56 CS), Alan Connolly for Horgan (60), Seamus Harnedy for Barrett (64), Sean Twomey for O’Flynn (70).

REFEREE: Sean Stack (Dublin).