Shane Kingston and Cork braced for the toughest of Croke Park assignments

Limerick had the opportunity to end Cork’s season in May, but on Sunday Cork now have the opportunity to end Limerick’s march towards immortality.

When the sides met at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in round three of the Munster senior hurling championship, Limerick entered the game following wins over Clare and Tipperary while the Rebels had suffered losses to Waterford and Clare.

At the midway stage of the provincial championship, Pat Ryan’s side stood on the precipice – either beat one of the greatest teams to ever play the game or prepare to pack up their tent before May was over.

Limerick led by two points as the match entered the third of four added minutes when Shane Kingston set off on a driving run, his trickery and directness ultimately enticing Kyle Hayes to drag him down.

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Pat Horgan converted the resulting penalty and when the final whistle sounded moments later, the Rebels had edged an epic contest, 3-28 to 3-26. Hundreds of fans streamed down from the stands to engulf their heroes – Cork had stepped back from the brink.

“I think when I got the ball there wasn’t really a chance for goal, to be honest,” recalls Kingston of his dash that led to that pivotal penalty.

“I don’t know, I just put the head down and I ran, things opened up so I just kept running. It all kind of happened in a matter of seconds. I wasn’t really thinking at the time, and if I was it wouldn’t have turned out the way it did. It was instinct really.

“It [The atmosphere] was fairly loud, especially after the final whistle when the fans swarmed the pitch. It was a bit surreal. It won’t really matter unless we get a result next week though.”

Cork haven’t really looked back since that Leeside win over Limerick. They walloped Tipperary by 18 points in their final provincial round-robin game to snatch third place in the group, and in the All-Ireland series they defeated both Offaly and Dublin.

And after four consecutive victories the Rebels will face a familiar foe once again this Sunday in the form of Limerick. That loss to Cork remains the Treaty County’s only blip in an otherwise victorious championship campaign.

Limerick are now just two wins away from becoming the first team in history to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup on five consecutive occasions. And while Cork did beat Limerick in May, John Kiely’s men have largely had the better of the rivalry over recent seasons.

Limerick beat Cork in the 2023 championship (Munster round-robin), 2022 championship (Munster round-robin), 2021 championship (Munster semi-final and the All-Ireland final). They also overcame the Rebels in the 2018 All-Ireland semi-final, after extra-time.

“Other people might be different, but I wouldn’t really be looking back on games from a couple of years ago,” says Kingston. “Our team has evolved, Limerick’s team has evolved, hurling itself has evolved.

“The last time we played in Croke Park was the All-Ireland final in 2021, where we didn’t do ourselves justice or express ourselves on the day. So, you’d be doing your best to rectify that performance. Obviously we’re on four wins in-a-row, which is great to build momentum, and fellas are a bit older and bit more mature, so you’d be hoping that would stand to you when you’re going into the semi-final.”

If it has been a somewhat strange year for Cork generally, it has certainly been a peculiar one for Kingston. He missed their Munster SHC opener against Waterford because of a hamstring injury and his role since returning to fitness has been to make an impact off the bench.

He has been introduced during their last five championship outings – scoring in four – and while every player would rather be starting, the Douglas clubman is prepared to play whatever role he is assigned by management.

“At the end of the day, if it’s the best role for the group, then I’ll have to get on with it, put the ego aside.”

Coming in off the bench has not been a totally new experience for Kingston, he has had to show patience and resilience in the past – including times when his dad didn’t select him to start.

Kieran Kingston managed Cork on two separate occasions, 2016-17 and 2020-2022, while he also served as a selector during Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s tenure.

“He still loves it and he’d still be chatting to fellas and I suppose he’s always going to be a Cork GAA fanatic,” says Shane. “He’s back training and helping out with his local club in Tracton.

“We chat away, to be fair. He’s got a bundle of experience, he’s been there himself. He was involved with Cork, winning Munsters, getting to All-Ireland finals so, look, obviously when that guidance is there I’ll try and utilise it when I can.

“He loves it so much and he wants the best for the group of players that’s there. He has such a good relationship with so many of them that he wants to see us be successful.”

– Kingston was speaking at the launch of the ‘eir for all’ Poc Tapa Challenge where clubs could win up to €5,000.

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