John Horgan on whether Cork are ready for another Limerick storm at Croke Park

FOR Cork to be in Croke Park on the final Sunday of the intercounty hurling season they are going to have to bring down arguably the greatest team of all time next Sunday.

Comparing teams from different eras is always a topic of conversation and the Kilkenny team of the early 2000s, the four-in-a-row side of 2006 to 2009 goes up against the current Limerick crop in that particular debate, a team who have achieved a similar feat over the past four years.

They are now just 140 minutes away of going where no county has ever gone before in trying to add to what has to be regarded as a remarkable achievement just as it was for Brian Cody’s men when they ruled the hurling world and the rest just existed in it. Tipp scuttled their hopes of doing the five in 2010 but that in no way diluted what they had achieved in the previous four years.

Likewise, if Limerick fail next Sunday or in the final a fortnight later their status will not be diminished either.

For genuine hurling followers everywhere those two teams from Noreside and Shannonside stand apart in the modern era as the greatest that has been our privilege to watch in action.

Cork are now about to enter the ring in their quest to halt Limerick’s drive for five and the anticipation levels have been rising at a very quick pace since the draw paired them together for this All-Ireland semi-final.

Of the four counties that will be in headquarters next week, Cork have the least experience of playing there in recent times.

This will be their first visit since the best-forgotten final of 2021 when Limerick tore them asunder in a game that had become a damage-limitation exercise by half-time.

Croke Park has become almost a second home for this Limerick team, playing eight championship games there over the past four years.

It’s very familiar territory too for Kilkenny and to a lesser extent Clare who were defeated semi-finalists last year and the year before. In any major game at the venue, a team has to settle very fast and certainly not allow your opponents to get an early run at you as Limerick did in 2021.

Cork have played six championship matches to get back to the big house on Jones Road, two more than Limerick who took the more direct route. Cork have the benefit of two very recent games against Offaly and Dublin while Limerick have not played since the Munster final victory over Clare a month ago next Sunday.

Could that be a factor, of course not because no other county has managed the month’s wait for their next game better than Limerick. 

It would probably be fair to state that Cork’s two best championship performances over the past two years were against Sunday’s opponents.

Their Munster championship encounter at the Gaelic Grounds in 2023 was an epic game of hurling with Pat Ryan’s team coming as close as any team had come to knocking John Kiely’s team off their lofty perch. Unfortunately, that huge effort just fell short by the bare minimum because as good as Cork were that day, Limerick just found that bit extra.

That, of course, has been a hallmark of this Limerick team, always finding a way to negotiate the tightest of situations that they find themselves in.

Their squad depth has been a significant contributory factor in doing that, something that has been evident since they played Cork in the 2018 All-Ireland semi-final when the likes of Shane Dowling came in from the bench to provide the ammunition that took Cork down after extra time.

Without doubt, Cork’s best performance this season has been against Limerick again, the epic in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. So, if recent history between the counties is a guideline as to what will transpire next Sunday then fasten the seat belts even tighter than before.

How much learnings both counties will have taken from their Munster Round-Robin encounter remains to be seen and it is often said that you learn more from a defeat than a victory.

WOUND

There is no doubt that defeat in Páirc Uí Chaoimh cut deeply with Limerick, all the more so because of the manner of it, letting slip a four-point advantage in the dying embers of the game.

To win an All-Ireland any year is desperately difficult because of the number of games you have to play now, at least six, four in the province, an All-Ireland semi-final and final.

If Cork get to a final it will be their eighth championship match, the four in the province, a preliminary quarter-final, quarter-final, semi-final and final.

Compare that to Kilkenny in 2010 when they had to play just three games to reach the final, a Leinster semi-final, final and the All-Ireland semi-final. Yes, it’s a far different story now which makes the importance of your squad depth all the greater.

Limerick continue to possess that depth but Cork are much stronger now in that regard than they have been. Particularly in attack, the options are far more considerable and it’s certainly no longer a given that the six who start one day, starts again the next.

Will the six that began against Dublin be on board again this time, maybe, maybe not. Some Cork players have struggled in recent games but it’s very important to stress that there was a sickness in the camp for the game against the Dubs and a couple of players suffered as a result.

But these things happen and have to be dealt with.

There are peaks and troughs in every game for a team and it’s the ability to cope in the minutes that you are under the cosh that can make all the difference.

Limerick have proved to be masters in that regard and, of course, the management team is hugely important too. In Croke Park, of all places. you have to react quickly if a player is starting to struggle and that means an early substitution if necessary.

Both semi-finals are of equal importance at the weekend but the Sunday afternoon collision of Cork and Limerick is generating most of the speculation.

Both counties are coming from far different places right now, Limerick riding higher than could ever have been imagined, Cork desperate to be the team that halts their bandwagon and at the same time trying to surmount the penultimate hurdle that will bring them closer to ending the county’s lenghty famine away from the top table.

It is a fascinating prospect.