In what was a rehearsal for their Championship opener in just 49 days' time on Easter Sunday, Cork laid down a marker against Limerick at TUS Gaelic Grounds, running out comfortable nine-point winners in front of a healthy February crowd of 12,061 – six months after they were defeated by 16 points by their Munster rivals in last year’s All-Ireland final.
The heavy 2-19 to 1-13 defeat saw John Kiely’s men succumb to three defeats from three in the league, while the victory was Cork’s third in a row following wins over Clare and Offaly.
The talking point will be the two red cards in the closing stages of the opening half as both Shane Kingston and Seamus Flanagan were sent to the sideline by referee Sean Stack for what were deemed dangerous and high tackles.
However it was Cork’s clinical display that saw them cruise to a 14-point half-time lead.
Kingston had scored two goals in a dominant first-half display from Kieran Kingston’s side before he was given his marching orders a minute into time added on in the half, while a minute later Flanagan followed to the sideline.
Limerick found the net, 18 minutes into the second half, and despite Cork just adding a further six points after the restart, it was the Rebels who ran out winners with nine points to spare.
Limerick – who made seven changes to the side that were defeated by Galway two weeks' ago – never got their trademark rhythm going and were left ruing 12 wides, nine of which came in the opening 35 minutes.
"The defining moment came in the 20th minute. A superb long ball in by Robbie O'Flynn was claimed by Patrick Horgan before he turned Dan Morrissey, easing past the Limerick full-back, selfishly laying off to Shane Kingston."
The Dubhglas man will score more difficult goals in his career, but he showed his composure in front of goal, raising the green flag to put seven between the sides.
With just a minute to go before half-time, Kingston grabbed his second goal, again finding himself in space in front of Barry Hennessy. The Cork corner-forward found the net, tapping home the rebound, after Conor Lehane’s effort was saved by the Limerick 'keeper.
Level on three separate occasions in the early stages, it was Cork who controlled the game from the minute Patrick Horgan scored his second of six frees in the 10th minute.
It was John Kiely’s charges who had taken the early lead through a well-taken David Reidy free before Patrick Horgan levelled terms.
A minute later, a super low pass by Darragh O’Donovan opened up the Cork defence, before Darren O’Connell linked up well with Flanagan - the latter slotted over to put Limerick ahead once again.
However, Cork took over the half from here on in, leading by 14 at the break.
Ten minutes into the second half, Limerick had narrowed the deficit to 12 points, boosted by half -time substitutes Diarmaid Byrnes, William O’Donoghue and Aaron Gillane, but Cork further extended their lead to 15 with 50 minutes on the clock.
Limerick did however claw back their losing margin again, in fact, outscoring Cork by 1-08 (11 points) to six points in the second half, with the visitors adding nine wides to their first-half tally of three.
Midway through the final 35 minutes, O’Neill took full advantage of a superb pass from O’Donoghue before making the score board a bit more respectable for the hosts.
In the final minutes, Byrnes and Mulcahy – both half time substitutes pointed to reduce Cork’s winning margin to nine.
Limerick: Barry Hennessy; Seán Finn, Dan Morrissey, Aaron Costello; Colin Coughlan, Declan Hannon (capt.), Kyle Hayes; Darragh O'Donovan (0-01), Robbie Hanley; Cathal O’Neill (1-01), Cian Lynch (0-01), Tom Morrissey; Darren O’Connell, Séamus Flanagan (0-01), David Reidy (0-03, 0-02f)
Subs: Richie English for Finn (36 mins, injured), Diarmaid Byrnes (0-03, 0-03f) for Coughlan (half time), Aaron Gillane (0-02, 0-02f) for O’Connell (half time), William O’Donoghue for Hanley (half time), Graeme Mulcahy (0-01) for Reidy (48 mins), Conor Boylan for O’Neill (54 mins)
Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Daire O’Leary, Sean O’Donoghue; Tim O’Mahony (0-01), Mark Coleman (capt.) (0-02, 0-02f), Ger Millerick; Darragh Fitzgibbon (0-02), Ciaran Joyce; Mark Keane, Conor Lehane (0-02), Robbie O’Flynn (0-02); Shane Kingston (2-00), Patrick Horgan (0-08, 0-06f, 0-01 '65), Shane Barrett (0-01).
Subs: Conor Cahalane (0-01) for Keane (40 mins), Jack O’Connor for Lehane (46 mins), Cormac O’Brien for O’Leary (56 mins), Alan Connolly for Horgan (62 mins), Seamus Harnedy for Barrett (64 mins), Jack O’Connor for O’Flynn (70 mins)
Referee: Sean Stack (Dublin)
