Limerick rubbished “absolutely ludicrous” suggestions that they might have been better served by dodging a Munster final after edging Cork out of the Championship.
A 3-25 to 1-30 win in front of 40,847 at the TUS Gaelic Grounds coupled with Waterford’s surprise six-point defeat of Tipperary means that the All-Ireland champions will now face Clare in the Munster final on June 11.
Had they finished third in the Munster group, they would have had a three-week lay-off to recharge the batteries before facing beaten Joe McDonagh Cup finalists Offaly in a All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final but manager John Kiely insisted that any perceived benefit to relinquishing their provincial title was “definitely not a consideration."
He said: “Just keep going, just keep the momentum going. Every competitor in any sport will tell you we just want to keep the momentum going, we want to keep improving and getting stronger and stronger. That’s where we want to go.”
Limerick will bid to win the first Munster five-in-a-row in 37 years next month and wing-forward Tom Morrissey added: “I remember giving an interview after we played Galway up in Salthill and people were asking did we want to get to a League final and I said, ‘Of course, I want to win everything I can win’.
“You’re telling me do I not want to go to a Munster final? As a player, that’s absolutely ludicrous.
“The players inside there relish days like today and we’re going to relish a Munster final and the challenge and the excitement as a player. You don’t play to go the backdoor route.
“You play to play on big days, Munster final. It’s been a fantastic Championship so far and to be involved in the showpiece event that’s what you want. You don’t want it any other way.”
Meanwhile, having made a bright start to their Championship campaign with a nine-point win over Waterford, it’s all over for Cork after drawing with Tipperary and suffering one-point defeats to Clare and now Limerick.
Manager Pat Ryan reflected: “We had lots of chances, we were obviously up against a very good team up here who probably played their best game of the year.
“We had a couple of chances there but, unfortunately, that’s the way it goes. We’ve been very – I won’t say very unlucky, maybe with a bit more composure we’d have won a couple of games but win one, draw one, lose two by one point each and you’re out of the thing.”
Ryan made no secret of his ambitions to bridge the gap to Cork’s last All-Ireland back in 2005 but after the first season of his three-year term ended at the earliest possible juncture, he summed up the campaign saying: “Disappointment, really. Our job was to get out of the Munster Championship.
“We were looking to win an All-Ireland but we knew it was going to be very, very competitive. There’s huge disappointment.
“We’re not interested in false platitudes, trying your best, that’s the expectations we have of the lads and in fairness, that’s what they’ve created themselves this year and that’s the way they’ve played. We don’t take any solace in hollow victories from close defeats.”
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