{"id":337428,"date":"2026-03-09T19:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/337428\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T19:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:30:12","slug":"green-flags-provide-difference-for-limerick-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/337428\/","title":{"rendered":"Green flags provide difference for Limerick again"},"content":{"rendered":"

The contrasting levels of experience across the two teams on Saturday night meant that a home victory was the safe bet and so it proved.<\/p>\n

Limerick\u2019s second goal was the dam-breaker and that was likely to be the case whenever it arrived \u2013 while there was some good fortune involved in Cork holding out until the three-quarter stage, they earned their luck with hard work and an intensity to match their vaunted opponents.<\/p>\n

If the visitors were going to make it five wins from win in the league, then there was a sense that goals would be needed to do so. <\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s a curiosity that, for Cork\u2019s reputation as goal-getters while Limerick kill teams with 30-point tallies, the Shannonsiders have raised more green flags in the counties\u2019 recent meetings.<\/p>\n

Across Pat Ryan\u2019s time in charge, there were five championship matches, with Limerick scoring 11 goals to Cork\u2019s six in those \u2013 only the 2024 All-Ireland semi-final saw Cork out-goal the Treatymen and that by one to zero.<\/p>\n

On Saturday night, Limerick again came out on top in the majors column, 3-0, and they left more chances behind them than Cork had.<\/p>\n

Nickie Quaid saved from Shane Kingston in the first half and Barry Walsh in the second but, by and large, Cork struggled to get in behind the home side\u2019s full-back line, something that Ben O\u2019Connor will look to put to good use.<\/p>\n

\u201cPressure out the field or maybe fellas going too long or not going long enough at stages,\u201d he said when asked about why there were not more opportunities.<\/p>\n

\n Poor execution with getting the ball in but, look, we\u2019ll learn so much out of this game.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

At the other end, the Limerick attack was not always free-flowing \u2013 19 white flags matched their win over Offaly as the joint-lowest tally \u2013 but they did display a sharper cutting edge.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe got turned over a few times and it cost us,\u201d O\u2019Connor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe probably had the ball in our hand and got turned over. They got scores out of that and that was the difference at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

DEPTH<\/p>\n

Limerick\u2019s side had 13 of the Munster final starters and their championship 15 will, one would think, resemble Saturday night more so than Cork\u2019s. <\/p>\n

To that end, it was another test of the depth of the squad and exposure to a near-full-tilt Limerick side can only serve a useful purpose.<\/p>\n

There is a clarity about the next step for Cork \u2013 beat an Offaly side that has little to play for \u2013 while Limerick know that securing a place in the final is also in their hands.<\/p>\n

\"Cork'sCork’s Tommy O’Connell in possession. Picture: Inpho\/James Lawlor<\/p>\n

The Waterford-Tipperary clash was postponed due to the sudden death of Benny Kiely, father of Waterford player Mikey Kiely and will take place next weekend instead. Should Tipp win that, then they would be in the mix going into the final round, if they were to overcome Kilkenny and Galway beat Limerick.<\/p>\n

In such a scenario, scoring difference would come into play to determine who reached the final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The contrasting levels of experience across the two teams on Saturday night meant that a home victory was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1965,1964,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-337428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-hurling","tag-cork-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}