CORK are the county best equipped to challenge Limerick’s dominance in years to come – but Sunday’s All-Ireland final may come too soon for the Rebels, according to All-Ireland winning boss John Allen.
On Wednesday night Cork U20s defeated Galway to clinch the 2021 All-Ireland title, just 39 days after the Rebels laid claim to the delayed 2020 U20 crown, where they beat Limerick in the decider.
That run of underage success has given huge cause for optimism looking down the line, but the seniors will start as major underdogs against John Kiely’s all-conquering Treaty on Sunday – Limerick having already got the better of Cork in Munster earlier in the summer.
And Allen, the last man to bring the Liam MacCarthy Cup back to Cork in 2005, believes Kieran Kingston’s side is coming up against “as good a team as we’ve ever seen play hurling”.
“We in Cork here are very happy that we have those two U20 titles won, and the seniors are probably ahead of schedule in terms of being in an All-Ireland final,” said Allen, who also succeeded Donal O’Grady in Limerick, guiding the Treaty to the 2013 Munster title at Cork’s expense.
“For Cork to have any hope of winning, they will have to win 70 or 80 per cent of the personal battles, and that’s a tall order because of the experience of Limerick, because of the quality we’ve seen.
“In the Munster semi-final Cork matched them for the first half an hour until Limerick got two goals before half-time, and then they never gave up that lead.
“Cork will have to find a way to limit Cian Lynch’s ability to set up plays… his peripheral vision is so good, his execution is so fast; he is a key man who has to be limited. You then zone on who picks up Gearoid Hegarty, probably Eoin Cadogan if he’s playing, and then you look around and you can’t let Peter Casey loose, you can’t let Seamus Flanagan loose, Aaron Gillane, Tom Morrisey…
“And then you have a guy like Nicky Quaid who has become as important to Limerick as Stephen Cluxton was to Dublin, he’s such a great reader of what is happening out the field.
“Cork can match them probably as well as any team can in terms of winning that puck out, but everything will have to go right for Cork on the day because this is as good a team as we’ve ever seen play hurling, as good as the Kilkenny team at its very height.”
The Rebels undoubtedly have the forward power to trouble Limerick if they can stop the Treaty powerhouses running riot at the other end, while boss Kingston faces a major decision over whether or not to start son Shane after his starring role from the bench against Kilkenny in the semi-final.
No matter what the result on Sunday, however, Allen is hopeful that a rising Rebel tide can help stop Limerick asserting even greater dominance over the All-Ireland series in the years ahead.
“It wasn’t that long ago we were saying maybe Galway have a chance of matching Limerick for physicality, but they just weren’t at the races this year.
“Limerick have won three of the last four All-Irelands. This is not an old team, it’s not like the Dublin footballers where you have a number of players dropping off over time.
“Limerick are at a different stage in their development, and it’s quite possible they could dominate hurling for the next number of years. But Cork probably, at underage, are the county showing the potential to make it to the top and to win the All-Ireland.
“Maybe there’s a year or two to go before that, or maybe only a few days, but we’d be hoping it can happen. Cork have great forwards, they have momentum, there’s no doubt.
“Over the past number of years Cork were accused of being easily knocked out of their stride but they ground it out against Kilkenny, so that game can only do them good.”
