{"id":378650,"date":"2026-04-02T18:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/378650\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T18:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:28:13","slug":"limerick-u20-hurlers-suffer-heavy-defeat-to-cork-in-munster-championship-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/378650\/","title":{"rendered":"Limerick U20 hurlers suffer heavy defeat to Cork in Munster Championship opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

LIMERICK<\/a> opened their 2026 Fulfil Munster U20 Hurling Championship with a defeat to Cork, losing 4-18 to 0-21 at SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh.<\/p>\n

In front of 2,924 people Leeside, goals from Barry O\u2019Flynn, Barry Walsh (2) and Johnny Murphy propelling the hosts to victory.<\/p>\n

The two first goals in particular were a real sucker punch for Limerick who were competitive for the majority of the first period.<\/p>\n

In a grade where the Shannonsiders have struggled in recent seasons, winning just three games in the last three years, this was a disappointing start for the class of 2026.<\/p>\n

The visitors got off to a bright start with two points from Dara Ferland giving them a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after seven minutes.<\/p>\n

Ferland, one of eight players on the team who started an U20 Championship game last year typified the positive opening seen by Evan Loftus\u2019 charges.<\/p>\n

An exquisite pick-up and pass from Hugh Flanagan saw Robert O\u2019Farrell into space. He was pulled back and Flanagan\u2019s resultant free increased the \u2018Treaty\u2019 advantage.<\/p>\n

Cork then hit three in a row as they started to get on top.<\/p>\n

The Limerick defence were under a bit of pressure as Barry Walsh pointed his fourth free in the 18th minute.<\/p>\n

A pair of points from O\u2019Farrell kept Limerick in touch as Walsh struck frees at the other end.<\/p>\n

But Cork – with wind advantage in the first half – pushed on.<\/p>\n

A long, direct ball from Michael T Brosnan was claimed by Barry O\u2019Flynn who drove the ball past Alex Kearns and into the net.<\/p>\n

They had the ball in the net again five minutes later as Walsh went for major from a 21-yard free and blasted it past the Limerick rearguard.<\/p>\n

It got from bad to worse at the start of the second half. After conceding two quick points, Limerick conceded a black-card penalty, John Murray pulling down the Cork attacker.<\/p>\n

Up stepped Walsh who gave Kearns no chance.<\/p>\n

Three minutes later, Limerick\u2019s slim hopes of a comeback evaporated as Johnny Murphy raised a fourth green flag.<\/p>\n

Late scores from Flanagan, Tadgh Boddy and Ferland took some of the sting off the result but it was a poor day at the office for Limerick.<\/p>\n

SCORERS: Cork: Barry Walsh 2-9 (1-7frees, 1-0 pen); Barry O\u2019Flynn 1-2; Johnny Murphy 1-0; Colm Garde 0-2; Jack O\u2019Brien, Zack Biggane, Conor Noonan, Michael T Brosnan, Craig O\u2019Sullivan 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

Limerick: Hugh Flanagan 0-6 (4frees); Dara Ferland 0-4; Robert O\u2019Farrell, Eoin Brosnan,Tadgh Boddy, John O\u2019Connor 0-2 each; Aidan O\u2019Connell, Conor Ryan, Jack Cosrgave 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

CORK: Oisin Walsh; Darragh Heavin, Denis Fitzgerald, David O\u2019Leary; Michael T Brosnan, Ben Walsh, Matthew Barrett; Conor Noonan, Jack O\u2019Brien; Barry Walsh, Barry O\u2019Flynn, Johnny Murphy; Finn O\u2019Brien, Zach Biggane, James O\u2019Brien.\u00a0Subs: Colm Garde for James O\u2019Brien (20 mins); Jayden Casey for Ben Walsh (42 mins); Craig O\u2019Sullivan for Zack Biggane (50 mins); Rian O\u2019Riordan for Michael T Brosnan (55 mins); Cormac Deane for Barry Walsh (56 mins).<\/p>\n

LIMERICK: Alex Kearns (Na Piarsaigh); John Murray (Patrickswell), Jackie Dwane (Kilmallock), Sean Duff (Mungret St Pauls); Jack Cosgrave (Ahane), Eamon Richardson (Doon), James Coughlan (Ballybrown); Conor Ryan (Ahane), Aidan O\u2019Connell (Doon); John O\u2019Connor (Ahane), Matthew Fitzgerald (Monaleen), Hugh Flanagan (Garryspillane); Robbie O\u2019Farrell (Kildimo-Pallaskenry), Dara Ferland (Monaleen), Eoin Brosnan (Na Piarsaigh).\u00a0Subs: Tadhg Boddy (Dromin-Athlacca) for James Coughlan (37 mins); Cathal Dennehy (Glenroe) for John Murray (45 mins); Rory Hanly (Ballybricken-Bohermore) for Conor Ryan (54 mins); Michael Leo (Knockainey) for Eoin Brosnan (59 mins).<\/p>\n

REFEREE: Alan Tierney (Tipperary).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LIMERICK opened their 2026 Fulfil Munster U20 Hurling Championship with a defeat to Cork, losing 4-18 to 0-21…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,17406,167909,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-378650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-limerick-gaa","10":"tag-munster-u20-hurling-championship","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378650","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=378650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}