Last Sunday’s Munster semi-final between Cork and Limerick was generally a game of at best modest quality, only made interesting by the close finish.

There were far too many errors of judgement and cases of poor ball control (especially on the Limerick side). There was also far too much bunching, with players vainly attempting to lift the ball amidst a forest of bodies and hurleys. They will be smiling down by the Nore, where the one-handed flick into open space is the time-honoured prescription in situations like this.

On the basis of territorial possession, especially in the middle third of the field, Limerick should have won this game. Cork possibly deserved to win because of their generally cuter use of the ball, but in the end they had to rely on a couple of basic goalkeeping errors to prevail. Donal O’Grady was going on about Cork relaxing when they had forged a good lead in the middle of the second half, but this Cork team is far too limited in ability to be able to relax at any stage in a big game. It is much more likely that as Limerick raised their game in an admirable attempt to retrieve the situation, Cork were simply unable to respond adequately.

A lot of Limerick supporters have been complaining about Seamus Roche’s handling of the game, but on repeated viewings of the video, An Moltóir would have to conclude that most of his decisions were reasonable enough. He definitely should have sent TJ Ryan off for his assault on O’Callaghan– a rash action by such an experienced player who also happened to be the Limerick captain. It is possible that Roche did not see Ryan, surrounded by Cork players, tap the ball from hurley to hand before penalising him for that late, and decisive free to Cork. And it was definitely a harsh decision to blow up play with Limerick in possession and heading for goal.

Ultimately, Limerick can only blame themselves for losing this game. It was a day when counting the number of plays made by different players was rendered difficult by the frequency of half touches and mishits arising from the regular shemozzles. Nevertheless, on An Moltóir’s count, Limerick had a total of 159 plays (defined as cases of balls being played to some effect, plus cases of players being fouled in possession) to Cork’s 135. The five busiest players (in terms of number of plays made) were all Limerick men, led by Niall Moran at 18, followed by Ollie Moran and Peter Lawlor (17 each), Clem Smith (16) and Mark Foley (15). Other Limerick players to reach double figures were Brian Geary (13), Sean O’Connor (12) and Micky Cahill (10). Some commentators thought it was a harsh decision to substitute JP Sheahan, but in fact he only played the ball three times when he was on the pitch – the same number of players as Damien Reale, who didn’t play the ball even once in the second half.
Cork’s busiest player was Ronan Curran (14) followed by Wayne Sherlock (13) and then John Gardiner and the O’Connor twins (12 each). Double figures were also recorded by Diarmuid O’Sullivan (11) and Tom Kenny (10). Joe Deane, incidentally, didn’t play the ball once (apart from frees) in the first half.

That Limerick did not win despite this territorial domination was down mainly to poor use of the ball. In the first half, the Limerick outfield players played far too much high ball into the full forward line which was usually returned with interest. After the change of ends, the quality of ball going in was much better, but the problem then was the inability of the inside men to do much with the possession they got. To the extent that Pad Joe Whelahan had anything to do with the great Offaly teams of the 1980s and 1990s, there was little evidence of the kind of hurling those teams played in the Limerick team on Sunday. Where Offaly emphasised first-time hurling, both in the air and on the ground, Limerick indulged in far too much of what An Moltóir terms voluntary solo-running (i.e. solo runs other than those required to get out of tight situations). An Moltóir counted 25 instances of such solo runs by Limerick players compared with just eight for Cork. No less than nine of this 25 consisted of cases of Limerick forwards running at the Cork defence and eventually losing possession.

What was really shocking about this game was the paucity of ground striking. Admittedly, Limerick were better than Cork at this, but in total An Moltóir only counted ten ground strokes of any distance by the Shannonsiders, and an extraordinarily low of just four by the Rebels. This presumably is a general indictment of modern hurling. The obvious way to open up as tight a defence as Cork’s is the quick diagonal stroke, whether in the air or on the ground. This was certainly not part of Limerick’s game plan on Sunday.

In terms of individual performers. An Moltóir reckoned that the best player on the field was Limerick’s left half back, Peter Lawlor. Not only did he win virtually all of the fifty-fifty balls in his area, but his use of the ball – be it a short pass to a better-placed colleague or a nicely-flighted ball into the forwards – was generally top-class. A lot has been said about the impact on the game of John Gardiner’s switch to the Cork halfback line in the second half, and he did hit a lot of ball thereafter. However, the fact remains that the man he was detailed to mark, Niall Moran, hit an equal amount of ball in that half – and much more than he hit in the first half. Moran’s use of the ball may not have always been the best, but he made an heroic contribution to the Limerick cause in this game.

Ollie Moran also had an excellent game for the Shannonsiders, while Clem Smith and Mark Foley did an awful lot of good work in midfield, where they were much more effective than their Cork counterparts. Some observers have been critical of Brian Geary’s performance, but An Moltóir does not share that view, while Micky Cahill had a very good second half. An Moltóir does agree with the view expressed by Michael Duignan during the TV commentary that Andrew O’Shaughnessy should have been taken off. His first touch was appalling from start to finish, while the fleetness of foot which has been a key element in his armoury was missing on this occasion. He was also slow to react to some good ball played into him, allowing his very alert marker to repeatedly get out and clear his lines. There surely must have been somebody on the sideline who could have done better with the kind of ball played into O’Shaughnessy’s corner.

Although they scraped the victory, Cork’s familiar strengths and weaknesses were once again there for all to see on Sunday. They have some exceptional defenders, with Sherlock again leading the way and young Brian Murphy showing very promisingly. And contrary to some viewpoints (probably coloured by prejudice against the man), Diarmuid O’Sullivan had quite an effective game. However, Ronan Curran’s strengths appear to be as a sweeper – on the evidence of this game, he is not particularly dominant under the high ball.

From midfield up, Cork appear to be in a lot of trouble. The fact that Micky O’Connell and Tim McCarthy continue to secure starting places is a sure indicator that the well of talent down by the Lee has been hit by a severe drought. There is also a lot in the argument that Cork cannot afford to have both O’Connors in the team at the same time. A major disappointment for Cork must have been the ineffectual display by Niall McCarthy (surely a tribute in itself to Brian Geary’s contribution). McCarthy was a key figure in Cork’s breakthrough last year, and had continued in this vein in this year’s National League. Last Sunday’s game largely passed him by, as it did Jonathan O’Callaghan apart from one brief spell in the first half. And while Joe Deane is always capable of doing a lot of damage with limited possession, he is unlikely to wreak havoc if he only gets to play the ball five times, which was the case on Sunday.

Cork undoub