John Horgan: Pride restored for Rebels after one of greatest ever Irish sporting occasions

We may never witness anything like this again, down through the corridors of time the game of hurling has reached levels we thought were not attainable.

Yes, in the past the Leinster championship has produced games of epic proportions that have their rightful place in the annals of history but when you come down to what transpires in Munster one exists in a different world altogether.

Last Saturday night’s grand finale at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick surely sured anything that has gone on before, an epic for the ages, 90 plus minutes of hurling and sheer drama that time or memory will not erase.

Over the past number of years there has been a new entrant to the great rivalries that exist and have existed across the Irish sporting landscape, Limerick and Cork now have that hurling rivalry all to themselves.

SPECTACULAR

Cork spectacularly halted Limerick’s drive for five All-Ireland titles on the trot last season, now they have halted their drive for seven Munsters in a row.

And as a result, they are back on the mountain-top, lost pride after the events of a few weeks earlier on the same sod has been restored, the spring is firmly back in the step of Cork hurling.

The history books will show that Cork won the Munster SHC of 2025 and Limerick lost but in truth, there were no losers last Saturday such was the gargantuan effort of both teams.

Rules and regulations are never made up on the day of a game, they are well heralded in advance but it is just not right that such an epic game of hurling should be decided on a penalty shootout.

This fantastic spectacle deserved another instalment and games of hurling of such magnitude should be replayed. But it is what it is, even if it’s all wrong and for the next four weeks at least, Cork can reflect on the quite magnificent job of work that they produced against, arguably, the greatest team that has ever graced a GAA field.

If there was ever an illustration of two games of hurling never being the same, this was one. Sixteen points divided these two teams a short couple of weeks ago, Cork sunk in a sea of despair.

Many had predicted that a gap of that magnitude could not closed to such an extent that the outcome would be reversed.

Yes, it was going to be a massive task to do so but this Cork bunch of players had the memory of last season’s brace of victories over the same opponents to draw on, deep down they had to believe that what transpired the last day was all down to just one of those days when little or nothing goes right for you.

It has happened to the best of teams and Cork were fortunate to get the opportunity in a very quick space of time of trying to set the record straight.

And they grasped it tightly with both hands.

And while they didn’t secure the victory in regulation time or extra time they turned in a level of performance that was in stark contrast to that earlier trouncing.

And they held their nerve better than their opponents in that dramatic penalty shootout in a victory that was made possible by a show of strength and aggression that has become the norm on these biggest of days.

It was a huge effort from everybody who got game time over the 90 minutes, the impact off the bench, it could be said, made the difference, a six-point contribution from the outstanding Shane Kingston, Conor Lehane, and Tommy O’Connell combined and when you add in Kingston and Lehane’s ‘s cool conversion of their penalties, the importance of your squad depth became so important.

Some Cork players might have been that bit better than others but nobody let the side down in one of the great Cork hurling displays for quite some time.

Two of the starting Cork full-back line got on the scoresheet, a point apiece from Damo Cahalane and Eoin Downey, two inspirational scores.

Better might have been done with both of Limerick goals, particularly their opener but the defensive return against such a much-vaunted attack could not be faulted with Ciaran Joyce getting to grips with Cian Lynch’s early supremacy and Mark Coleman doing likewise with Tom Morrissey.

Patrick Collins would have been annoyed with the concession of Limerick’s first goal but he more than made amends afterwards with a couple of very fine stops.

Darragh Fitzgibbon put in a huge shift around the middle and Lisgoold’s young gun, Diarmuid Healy more than justified his selection and a three-point haul from play represented a job very well done on his first championship start.

Seamie Harnedy and Shane Barrett were tireless in their endeavours, sharing 1-5 between them while Hoggy ended up with 0-7 attached to his name, three big ones from open play, again marking down his huge importance to this team and one of the county’s greatest ever servants.

The sides could not be separated on 17 different occasions over the game’s duration, that must represent a record in itself and that more than anything else exhibited the wafer-thin difference that now divides huling’s new order.

Aaron Gillane was a major thorn in Cork’s rearguard and their squad depth was in evidence too with Shane O’Brien impacting considerably and Peter Casey, Decland Hannon and Cathal O’Neill all getting on the scoresheet.

Ticket prices of €50 and €40 were exorbitant but when it came to value for money there could no complaints.

CREDIT

The Cork management deserve immense credit too for rebuilding the confidence that had to have taken a fair battering after the earlier loss on that same ground. A significant reset was going to be required and belief restored in a short enough turnaround.

The substitutions that were made worked the oracle too and while the war will go on, this was a big battle that needed to be won and it was.

In snooker parlance, there will be talk of a deciding frame in July between these same two teams, part three of the pre-season trilogy that many had been predicting.

That type of conversation is far too premature yet and the greatest of respect must be shown to the rest of the contenders who are still inside and outside the province.

For now, though Cork have a Munster and a national league title secured, not bad, not bad at all and at this juncture in time you cannot ask for much more.

And it must be stressed in bold capitals that this Limerick squad will, in all probability, be back in Croke Park too as one of the last four teams in the MacCarthy Cup chase.

To sum it all up, this was one of Irish sport's great occasions of which there have been so many and if these two were to meet up again in July you would have to move the Aviva up alongside Croke Park to try and accomodate the crowd.

But there’s a big bagful of hurling to be sorted out before that might come to .