Casey the hero as Limerick regain Munster crown
Having trailed for practically the entire game, Limerick wrenched the Munster title out of Cork's grasp at the death thanks to a late brace of points from Peter Casey.
Behind by two points with four minutes remaining, a Diarmaid Byrnes 65 and a well-worked Gearóid Hegarty score levelled up the match.
As the game ticked into injury-time, Casey, who was almost bottled up in a tackle near the right sideline, managed to reverse out of contact before nervelessly arrowing over a point from a tight angle, sending the Limerick supporters in the South Stand into raptures.
Cork fought back to level it in the next play, Alan Connolly landing another free.
However, having huffed and puffed for much of the afternoon, Limerick had most of the momentum now. Casey was found in the right corner this time and he stroked over another score to restore the lead.
The injury-time period was comically frantic, Limerick missing several chances to grab an insurance score, Hegarty's shot from the right side coming back off the near post, bringing an abrupt stop to premature Limerick celebrations. Crucially, however, they prevented Cork from clearing downfield.
The game ended a note of controversy as the Cork players surrounded referee James Ownes after he refused to allow Tim O'Mahony get his shot away with the injury-time period having elapsed.
Cork had been awarded a free well inside their own half. With time up, the assumption was that they had to hit it straight over but Patrick Collins opted to work it short, passing sideways to Mark Coleman, who found Tim O'Mahony in a more advanced central position.
However, Owens's patience had run out and the whistle sounded as O'Mahony struck the ball. It died well short of the goal in any case, though Cork players might feel the whistle impacted the strike.
They gathered around Owens, who left the field to a predictable hail of boos. Ben O'Connor said afterwards that his players hadn't been told that they needed to score the free direct.
By then, the Limerick supporters were invading the pitch in a role reversal of last year's scenes at the Gaelic Grounds.
Cork had led by two points at half-time, an advantage which hardly looked sufficient with the breeze in their face after the interval.
It had looked much healthier a few minutes earlier after Rob Downey had caught a ball above Gearóid Hegarty's head and lashed over a point to put them 1-11 to 1-05 ahead.
But in a sign of things to come, Limerick came with a late burst, rattling over the final four points of the half. It was a period of play which proved decisive.
Peter Casey shoots the winning point
Shooting into the Blackrock End, the defending champions started the brighter. At two points apiece, Kyle Hayes was penalised for hanging out of his namesake, Brian as Mark Coleman's sideline cut landed on the edge of the square. Alan Connolly drilled home the penalty.
Ten minutes later and trailing 1-04 to 0-03, Limerick hit back. The home crowd jeered triumphantly as Byrnes' long range free held up in the wind and fell short. Their reaction was premature.
Hegarty grabbed the ball under pressure, and with his back to goal and little room to maneuver, managed to force a shot inside the post.
Cork responded well to the jolt and enjoyed their most dominant passage of the game, outscoring the visitors 0-07 to 0-02 over the next 15 minutes, with William Buckley and Diarmuid Healy landing scores.
Limerick's shooting was askew in the first half, Aidan O'Connor enduring a nervy opening to his first Munster final start, with two early frees tailing wide of the right post.
Aaron Gillane, back from injury, exerted nothing like the influence of the league final and failed to score before being withdrawn before the 50th minute mark.
By contrast, Cork logged just one wide in the first half. Free-taking had been pegged as an issue after their opening round win over Tipperary but Tim O'Mahony was unerring from placed balls, going four from four in the first half.
While they dogged by inaccuracy, Limerick were creating scoring chances far easier and their quartet of points in the dying embers of the first half made it 1-11 to 1-09 at the break.
The assumption was that it wouldn't be enough but that assessment was revised early in the second half, when last season's Hurler of the Year nominee Hayes, scored an ingeniously taken goal after being sent to the ground.
Coleman had threaded a pass through to Tommy O'Connell, who fed Hayes. The St Finbarr's full-forward slipped as he tried to sidestep a challenge but then batted the ball past Quaid while sat on the ground.
Limerick missed a clatter of goal chances in the aftermath, Patrick Collins performing heroics as he pulled off saves from Shane O'Brien and O'Connor.
Alongside that, he almost committed a hurler after miscontrolling a harmlessly ball and he was robbed of the ball by Peter Casey. Cork defenders got back on the line to block the shot.
The game was descending into a bit of a free-taking contest by now, the Cork crowd in particular growing agitated.
James Owens had been lauded for forgetting his whistle at the previous championship meeting between the pair - always a popular philosophical approach. However, he rediscovered it here.
Of the 1-18 in total scored in the second half, just 1-06 came from play, with Connolly frees accounting for all of Cork's white flags.
There were six frees scored on the trot as the game entered the final quarter, both teams registering three apiece.
O'Connor finally broke the cycle with his first point from play to make it 2-15 to 1-17.
This was followed by another Connolly free, a Byrnes '65 before Hegarty slotted the point to level the game in the 69th minute.
Peter Casey celebrates after scoring the winning score
Cork had led from the early minutes but they had been living on scraps for much of the second period and it was clear Limerick had the initiative.
As the game ticked into injury-time, Casey fired over the lead score from the sideline for his second point of the game.
Connolly levelled it from a placed ball but Casey again came up trumps.
Cork were aggrieved at the finish though they'd been subsisting on frees and relying on Limerick's inacccuracy to remain in front as long as they did.
They're headed for a quarter-final date with Offaly, while Limerick savour the return of their Munster title, their sixth of a glorious decade.
Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O'Leary, Damien Cahalane, Seán O'Donoghue; Eoin Downey, Robert Downey (0-01), Mark Coleman; Tim O'Mahony (0-04, 3 '65, 1f), Tommy O'Connell; Barry Walsh, Shane Barrett, Diarmuid Healy (0-02); William Buckley (0-02), Brian Hayes (1-01), Alan Connolly (1-07, 1-00pen, 7f).
Subs: Cormac O'Brien for O'Donoghue (41), Seamus Harnedy for Walsh (65), Hugh O'Connor for O'Connell (71)
Limerick: Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash (0-01), Diarmaid Byrnes (0-03, 2f, 1 '65), William O'Donoghue, Kyle Hayes, Cian Lynch (0-01), Darragh O Donovan, Gearóid Hegarty (1-01), Aidan O'Connor (0-08, 5f, 2 '65), Cathal O'Neill (0-01), Aaron Gillane, Shane O'Brien (0-01), Peter Casey (0-03).
Subs: Tom Morrissey (0-02) for O'Neill (34), Adam English for Gillane (48), David Reidy for O'Brien (66)
Referee: James Owens
