Cork cruise into Munster semi-final with commanding win over 14-man Limerick

Cork 0-24 (0-5-14) Limerick 0-13 (0-3-7)

Limerick dismissed, quickly onto Kerry. A third straight Cork victory moves them comfortably onto a Munster semi-final on Saturday fortnight.

Visitors-turned-hosts. Their guests to Páirc Uí Chaoimh will wear green and gold.

Following as it did the relegation-avoiding League wins over Louth and Cavan, this 11-point Munster quarter-final dismissal of Limerick represented only the second time that Cork have managed a three-in-a-row of victories across spring and summer fare during John Cleary's reign.

It all unravelled so spectacularly for Limerick during a seven-minute period that brought the clock up to the 32nd minute. It all unfolded so perfectly for Cork during the same seven-minute period.

Cork led 0-9 to 0-6 coming into the 25th minute. Seven minutes later, that lead had swollen out to 10 points - 0-16 to 0-6. Cork also now enjoyed numerical advantage away from the scoreboard as well.

This shift in personnel numbers is what amplified the shift everywhere else. Its tremors registered a strong score on the Richter scale.

Limerick half-forward Seán Clancy was high with his tackle on Mark Cronin on 25 minutes. Limerick's championship debutant had been booked only three minutes earlier for a foul on Colm O’Callaghan. Yellow was again drawn from the book. Limerick down to 14.

Referee Derek O'Mahoney shows a red card to Sean Clancy of Limerick during the Munster GAA Football Senior Championship quarter-final match between Limerick and Cork at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Tom Beary/Sportsfile

A Limerick backroom member threw a bottle to Clancy as he took an unexpectedly early seat in the Mackey Stand. Clancy immediately fired the bottle off the ground. Out on the pitch, meanwhile, Brian Hurley converted the resultant free.

Two minutes further on, Limerick ‘keeper Josh Ryan was penalised for not sending his restart the requisite distance. Mark Cronin took the ball back outside the arc and successfully shopped for two. The visitors now into a double-scores 0-12 to 0-6 lead.

Limerick searched for a plaster. Any size would do. They nearly found one. Peter Nash’s goal effort had a hand got to it by Micheál Aodh Martin. The play was called back for a free outside the arc. Josh Ryan came forward and kicked wide. The blood kept gushing.

Paul Walsh broke onto the ensuing Cork kick-out. The passage finished with a Hurley orange flag.

Another Limerick breach, this time for impeding Ian Maguire as he attempted to tap and go, allowed Cronin direct over his second two-point free on 32 minutes. 0-16 to 0-6. The seven-minute seismic shift complete.

Although Cork had begun to find significant space and goal chances prior to Seán Clancy’s sending-off, Limerick, into a stiffish breeze, would have been pleased with the opening 20 minutes. It was an opening 20 minutes at the end of which the Treaty trailed only by the minimum, 0-7 to 0-6.

Peter Nash (free), Colm McSweeney, after a superb tap-and-go 70-metre run, Paul Maher, and Nash again kicked four on the bounce to cancel out Brian O’Driscoll’s early pair of orange flags.

Clancy’s sending-off, Cork’s immediate barrage of flags, and the Limerick missed goal chance squeezed in amongst all that, combined to take a fixture with a strong pulse and put it out cold. All early intensity dissipated and disappeared. All suspense removed.

If Cork had sought a pre-Kerry interrogation, they were released from the interview room after less than half an hour.

The second half was a non-event. A non-event the Cork management won’t reflect kindly on. In the 25 minutes after the restart, John Cleary’s side kicked just four points. Their first half kicking directness did not come back out for the second period.

An Emmet Rigter two-pointer from play and James Naughton two-point free had Limerick within seven shortly after the 50-minute mark.

They came no closer. Their season will restart in mid-May in the Tailteann Cup. Cork’s season’s is headed for an acid test on April 19.

Scorers for Cork: B O’Driscoll (0-6, 2 tp), M Cronin (0-6, 2 tpf, 0-2 frees); B Hurley (0-4, tp, 0-1 free); C O’Callaghan, P Walsh (0-2 each); M Taylor, S McDonnell, C Óg Jones, C O’Mahony (0-1 each).

Scorers for Limerick: J Naughton (0-7, 2 tpf, 0-1 free); P Nash (0-1 free), E Rigter (tp, 0-2 each); C McSweeney, P Maher (0-1 each).

CORK: MA Martin; N Lordan, D O’Mahony, S Brady; B O’Driscoll, R Maguire, M Taylor; I Maguire, C O’Callaghan; P Walsh, E McSweeney, S McDonnell; M Cronin, B Hurley, C Óg Jones.

SUBS: S Powter for R Maguire (HT); R Deane for McSweeney (46); C O’Mahony for Hurley (52); C Cahalane for Walsh (63); M Shanley for Lordan (66).

LIMERICK: J Ryan; D Buckley, C McSweeney, M McCarthy; B Coleman, I Corbett, R Childs; E Rigter, T Childs; P Maher, J Naughton, S Clancy; C Fahy, P Nash, D Ó Siochrú.

SUBS: J Hassett for Coleman (46); T Ó Siochrú for Childs, D O’Hagan for Fahy (both 52); D Neville for D Ó Siochrú (56); J Baynham for Nash (63); D Murray for T Childs (69, temporary).

REFEREE: D O’Mahony (Tipperary).

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