Cork shocked the country by denying Limerick their shot at a historic fifth All-Ireland crown in a row, creating history of their own in returning to the promised land of a final at Croke Park.
Here are the pictures which defined the Rebel County’s day in the sun on the day they dethroned the champions. Cork struck the first major blow in the first half when Brian Hayes, who finished the day with 1-4, found the back of the net with a thunderous finish into the Canal goal.
Moments later, Hayes thought he had a second. Both on the grass and in the stand, Cork could not hide their frustration when the effort was ruled out for a thrown pass. TV pictures showed the pass was legal.
For all their goal threat, it was some defensive heroics in goal which dominated both the official highlights and social media chatter after the game. In that first half, Patrick Collins produced a double save for the ages. Only one of them counted, but still.
Firstly, he came rushing off his line to deny Aaron Gillane, the ball crashing into Collins’s armpit. Then, returning to his feet, he raced to his right-hand side to stop the effort of Séamus Flanagan, despite what must have been a viciously sore armpit. In the end, the referee blew Limerick for over-carrying prior to the second shot, but Collins still saved it anyway.
After half-time, Cork took over. “Declan Dalton’s long-range shooting took over a second half in which he scored a mile of points,” wrote Malachy Clerkin at Croke Park. Dalton ended up with 0-4.
A subplot amidst the chaos was Patrick Horgan’s pursuit of personal glory. He shook off a jittery first period that included a botched 20-metre free to whip five points in the second half. In the process, he reached 700 career points. He only needs to score three in the final to overtake TJ Reid at the top of the all-time scoring charts.
As Limerick did what champions do, refuse to go down without the mother of all fights, second-half wides characterised a frustrating display for John Kiely’s side.
Limerick pushed a spent Cork side hard in the dying stages, but the gap was too wide. At the full-time whistle, cue scenes of agony and ecstasy after a historic match came to an end.
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