Cork 0-15 Limerick 0-14 A generally poor and at times over-heated clash finished up in a welter of excitement as Cork somehow salvaged the winning scores in injury time to the utter delight of their followers in the 8,679 crowd at Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday.
That hectic finish also included the unusual sight of Joe Deane, trying for a lead point, sending a close-in free wide.
Both teams tried hard, often too hard, both seemingly intent on laying down a benchmark ahead of the championship. Waterford referee Michael Wadding showed six yellow cards at the end of several scuffles.
The playing standard suffered as a result and there was far too much bunching. Some 16 of the points scored in the game came from the placed ball.
But the excitement of the concluding moments did atone for a lot.
Cork, with centre back Ronan Curran playing the game of his life, somehow managed to open a four point gap, the biggest margin of the day, inside the final 10 minutes and they looked safe at last.
Furthermore, Limerick's second-half performance against the wind had been only a shadow of their impressive first-half showing.
Dave Keane and his Limerick selectors made changes but none was as effective as the springing of John Meskell from the bench after the team's scoring rate had spluttered and stalled for 12 minutes.
Pat Kirby started the revival with a pointed free and Meskell sent three points flying over from varying ranges to level the scores at 13 points each with injury time beckoning.
Cork's Alan Browne seemed to have the winning of it when he got inside the Limerick cover and tried to kick a goal but the ball was somehow taken off the line by corner back Damien Reale. Moments later, Deane looked even more certain of breaking the deadlock from less than 30 yards in front of the posts but he pulled his shot to the right and wide.
Cork substitute Jerry O'Connor finally struck the lead point at the end of a 50-yard run out and Alan Browne followed up with a classy point from the left corner. There was not enough time for Limerick to get back on terms but their hero, wing back Eoin Foley squeezed in a last-gasp point off a free.
Limerick's defence, especially the half-back line of Eoin Foley, Ollie Moran and captain Mark Foley on the left, was a major factor in an uplifting first half display at the end of which they led by 0-7 to 0-5.
Cork came storming into it in the third quarter to hit five unanswered points. The young Limerick side never surrendered, however, and had battled back to parity by the last quarter.
"That for me was most satisfying aspect," reflected manager Keane afterwards. "I was very pleased with the fight-back. We just needed a little more ball around the half forwards. Another little bit of experience and we will be doing a lot better."
His Cork counterpart, Donal O'Grady, was "happy enough" with the result. "Limerick are a difficult team. I think it could easily have gone either way. We were a little off the pace, especially in the first half."
O'Grady picked out centre back Curran for special mention. Curran was pleased with his performance, but more especially for the team's showing. "It's all good preparation for the championship," he said.
CORK: D Óg Cusack; W Sherlock, D O'Sullivan, C O'Connor; S Óg Ó hAilpín, R Curran, J Gardiner (0-2 65s); D Barrett (0-1), M O'Connell; N McCarthy (0-2), T McCarthy (0-1), E Fitzgerald (0-1, f); B O'Connor (0-1), J Deane (0-3, fs), A Browne (0-3). Subs: J O'Connor (0-1) for Barrett (52 mins); S McGrath for Fitzgerald (54 mins).
LIMERICK: T Houlihan; D Reale, E Mulcahy, S McDonagh; E Foley (0-2, f, 65), O Moran, M Foley (0-2, fs); P Lawlor (0-1), S Lucy; J Moran (0-2), M O'Brien, N Moran; P Kirby (0-2, fs), TJ Ryan, M Keane (0-1, f). Subs: J O'Brien for O'Brien (half time); D Sheehan (0-1) for Keane (30 mins); J Meskell (0-3, fs) for N Moran (53 mins); B Foley for P Kirby 67 mins).
Referee: M Wadding (Waterford)
