Munster SHC Final: Cork triumph on penalties:
Munster SHC Final
Cork 1-30 Limerick 2-27
(Cork win 3-2 on penalties after extra-time)
By Tom Clancy at the TUS Gaelic Grounds
History was made with the first-ever penalty shootout in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship. With it, Cork claimed a 55th Munster title, and end Limerick’s incredible run of six titles in a row.
Barry Murphy and Declan Hannon both missed either side of a Patrick Collins save from Tom Morrissey. It ended a thrilling 90-plus minutes as these sides were inseparable in regulation. The Cork portion of the 43,580 spilled out joyously onto the Ennis Road pitch.
It was a return to the Gaelic Grounds for these sides, after a 16-point victory for the men in green last month. This was a second Munster final during Limerick’s run that went to extra-time, having defeated Clare in 2022, in Thurles.
Cork won the toss and elected to play with the aid of a strong breeze which blew towards the City End Terrace. They made early use of this, with a trio of points from Patrick Horgan (18 seconds), Seamus Harnedy and another from a Horgan free.
Limerick found some early spark from Tom Morrissey and Cian Lynch, with the latter teeing up the former for the first.
Aidan O’Connor and a second from Ahane’s Morrissey levelled the game after nine minutes. Diarmuid Healy was next on target, with a quickfire brace as the tempo showed no signs of relenting.
Cork appeared to be gaining some level of dominance when moving three ahead thanks to Seamus Harnedy on 18 minutes, but the holders had other ideas.
Lynch delivered to O’Connor and after beating the defensive cover batted to the net, with Patrick Collins perhaps deceived by the strike. His first Championship goal levelled the tie on 20 minutes.
A David Reidy effort gave the Shannonsiders a first lead, but it was short lived as Tim O’Mahony was accurate from range.
The first Cork goal, on 27 minutes, as Brian Hayes cleverly recycled to Shane Barrett who drilled through a crowd of bodies to the corner.
Cork stepped on the gas and scored 0-5 to just 0-2 in the closing seven minutes of the half. Barrett got two of these points with Adam English and Gearoid Hegarty on target at the other end. By half-time it was 1-14 to 1-10.
The wide count was 9-4 at the change of ends, with Cork more wasteful as the men in green elected to run the ball instead of shoot from range.
A hard fought third quarter saw the sides share five yellow cards in what was a stop-start period. Gillane and English helped cut the gap as Horgan was on target at the other end.
Shane O’Brien made an immediate impact when introduced. Hegarty’s quick free was cushioned by the foot of Gillane which allowed O’Brien the time to collect and dispatch to the net. This on 45 minutes, as the tension ramped up even further.
From here to the finish of normal time, there was no more than a point between the sides. Eoin Downey picked off a decent point while Diarmuid Healy added his third, in between a sharp point from Patrickswell’s Aaron Gillane.
Diarmuid Healy put Cork ahead, but Hegarty and then sub Darragh O’Donovan inched the green men ahead on 69 minutes. Patrick Horgan levelled it up as the game entered an additional four minutes.
Both sides missed chances during this period – Gillane from a free was wide, before Ciarán Joyce was off target at the other end.
Extra-time, hearts back to a normal pace for a few minutes. Declan Hannon made an immediate impact, while Gillane put Limerick two up to start extra-time but Fitzgibbon (free), Shane Kingston and Conor Lehane proved the fresh legs were valuable – before Gillane tied the game at the midway point.
James Owens had taken over from Thomas Walsh in the middle, with the Waterford man cramping up after 73 minutes.
Again during the second period, the sides couldn’t be separated, with Darragh Fitzgibbon landing a last-gasp 65 to force penalties after Aaron Gillane thought he’d won it with a free.
Scorers for Cork: Patrick Horgan 0-7 (4fs), Shane Barrett 1-3, Darragh Fitzgibbon 0-4 (1f, 1 65), Diarmuid Healy, Shane Kingston 0-3 each, Seamus Harnedy, Conor Lehane 0-2 each, Damien Cahalane, Tim O’Mahony, Alan Connolly, Eoin Downey, Brian Hayes, Tommy O’Connell 0-1 each.
Penalty scorers: Conor Lehane, Shane Kingston, Alan Connolly.
Scorers for Limerick: Aaron Gillane 0-9 (7fs), Shane O’Brien 1-2, Adam English, David Reidy 0-3 each, Aidan O’Connor 1-1, Tom Morrissey, Gearoid Hegarty 0-2 each, Diarmuid Byrnes (f), Darragh O’Donovan, Declan Hannon, Peter Casey 0-1 each.
Penalty scorers: Diarmuid Byrnes, Aaron Gillane.
Cork: Patrick Collins; Damien Cahalane, Eoin Downey, Seán O’Donoghue; Cormac O’Brien, Ciarán Joyce, Mark Coleman; Tim O’Mahony, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Diarmuid Healy, Shane Barrett (C), Séamus Harnedy; Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes.
Subs: Robert Downey for O’Brien (54); Tommy O’Connell for O’Mahony (59); Shane Kingston for Connolly (65); Robbie O’Flynn for Harnedy (68); Niall O’Leary for O’Donoghue (72); Brian Roche for Healy (80); Alan Connolly for Coleman (84).
Limerick: Nickie Quaid; Seán Finn, Dan Morrissey, Mike Casey; Diarmaid Byrnes, Kyle Hayes, Barry Nash; Adam English, William O’Donoghue; Gearóid Hegarty, Cian Lynch (C), Tom Morrissey; Aaron Gillane, Aidan O’Connor, David Reidy.
Subs: Shane O’Brien for O’Connor (42); Peter Casey for Reidy (54); Cathal O’Neill for T Morrissey (54); Darragh O’Donovan for O’Donoghue (65); Barry Murphy for M Casey (start ET); Declan Hannon for Byrnes (start ET); Tom Morrissey for Hegarty (77); Seamus Flanagan for Lynch (blood 91 – 93); Byrnes for Lynch (94).
Referee: Thomas Walsh (Waterford), replaced after 73 minutes by James Owens (Wexford).