Donal O'Grady came out into the crowded little compound outside the dressing-room and signed the back of a few small-sized Cork jerseys while their wearers beamed. Easiest part of a day he'd had few illusions about. The Gaelic Grounds in summer isn't the house of welcomes.

"I don't think they rattled us. Their first goal gave them a lift. We settled down and played a good bit of hurling after that. We did well and then the drive went away from us."

And the switches? Most notably swapping John Gardiner and Tom Kenny in an effort to stymie Niall Moran. Not the sort of detail which O'Grady likes discussing with us media bozos.

"John Gardiner? We made switches to bolster the defence or whatever but when we should have been driving home the advantage we didn't do it. That was what was important"

And the other introduction? Brian Corcoran brought on to a rapturous reception in the second half. "Everyone on the panel is there to be brought on. We brought Brian on and he did a good job."

That's all. O'Grady isn't the gabbiest in situations like this. Not even the business of the referee exercises him just now.

"Some referees can be very picky. It's a man's game and you expect to get hit, though. The referee had control all the way through, there were a few flare-ups, a lot of body work."

Diarmuid O'Sullivan had some bodywork on the side of his head. His left ear was stitched and bloody as the result of a first-half clash. Despite early struggles he'd grown into his hurling. This was his sort of day: hot and hard.

"Coming up here was about the feeling and getting a result and moving on to the Munster final, it was always going to be that way, they were going to be fired up, new stands, their crowd. There was an upset on the cards, we steadied the ship though.

"There was tension out there alright, fellas missed pick-ups, stray handpasses, an awful lot of things but it's part and parcel of the Munster hurling championship."

And the business of his counterpart TJ Ryan and the "incident"? The Rock is the perfect diplomat.

"I didn't see what happened. It's the Munster championship though. We recovered well from a bad start. When we were four or five poitns up we thought we'd enough but they plugged us back to lead at half-time."

Brian Corcoran slipped quietly by. One of those days he perhaps thought would never come again. High summer and fast pulling. He looked a little off the pace but nothing which a few weeks won't cure. He was just glad to be feeling his way back.

"There's a lot of new faces from when I was there. Good buzz though. Limerick in Limerick is always hard. It's was that way for us throughout the nineties. We knew we'd have to grind it out. We'll have to play better but we'll worry about that the next day."

Any nerves? "I wouldn't say nervous. I was a bit tense. I suppose if you're not nervous you shouldn't be here. Nerves are a good thing."

And the point he scored from a position on his knees? "We'll take it and don't mention the ones I missed."

John Gardiner spoke of the 70 minutes which had elapsed. Hard work for a midfielder who was subsequently sent on a lone mission to shackle Niall Moran.

"In a place like this Limerick will be motivated. Brian came on though and it gave us a huge boost. There was a switch for us. Niall Moran. I went back to mark him for a bit They were switching around a lot anyway. He's a super player. I thought I did well enough but the half-back line we have is probably the best in the country."

Team captain Ben O'Connor had a day of quiet efficiency: 1-6 without being spectacular. He spoke quietly.

"We were hanging on there for the finish. Before the 27th of June we have work to do. After it we'll have work to do as well. We're delighted to come out of it with a three points victory. You need a bit of luck. The sun got in Albert's eyes and it sailed in. We needed that little break."

And the player most spoken about, TJ Ryan? A more than serviceable full back late in his career, he was lucky to stay on the pitch but, typical of his passion, remained aggrieved.

"I may be biased but I thought the ref was terrible. I'm not saying all the frees weren't frees. Even in the finish when I got pulled down. We need a break, it's the first round of the Munster championship. They're Munster champions, we're at home, the media are picking up on poxy rows here, there and everywhere, maybe they should be looking at the standard of refereeing. Anything 50-50 they got. That's Munster championship hurling. Maybe there's no point talking about it.

"The goal came at a bad time for us. No point whinging about it maybe. We've come a long way. We've done a lot of things right. Maybe down the year it might work out for us."