A late penalty seals the victory for Cork over Limerick in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship

LIMERICK have registered their first defeat of the Munster Senior Hurling Championship after a late penalty from Cork gained them their first win of the Munster Championship on a scoreline of 3-28 to 3-26.

In an ding-dong Munster Championship game the Treaty men went ahead in the second-half of the game for the first time in the match but Cork were undeterred and continued to slot over scores with main-man Patrick Horgan scoring 1-10. 

Limerick's next game in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship will be a home fixture against Waterford in the final group game of the round robin system on Sunday, May 26 at the TUS Gaelic Grounds at 4pm.

A Limerick free within the first 20 seconds of play won by Cathal O'Neill and scored by Aaron Gillane opened the scoring for the evening. This was followed swiftly by a Patrick Horgan free from the 65 yard line to level the sides after two minutes. 

A fantastic puck-out from Cork goalie Patrick Collins landed well for Shane Barrett who found a running Séamus Haredy on his shoulder slotting the goal into the back of the net leaving the home side 1-2 ahead early on. 

This goal spurred on the home side as the crowd roared their side on with four points within the opening 10 minutes as Limerick struggled to get control on the charging Cork forwards who remained on top 1-7 to 0-3 ahead. 

Feohanagh/Castlemahon full forward Seamus Flanagan ended the scoring drought for Limerick after a powerful run from Kyle Hayes landed in Flanagan's hands but the score was out done as Cork charged on again with yet another over lap player charged at the goal ending in a Brian Hayes point.

Limerick added two more points to their tally with long-range efforts from Tom Morrissey and David Reidy landed their target followed by an Ethan Twomey point to leave it 1-10 to 0-6 in Cork's favour after 20 minutes of play. 

The All-Ireland champions found their rhythm in the closing minutes of the first-half as Flanagan slotted over a point before Aaron Gillane charged down the Cork puck-out to find Flanagan once again scoring Limerick's first goal of the game, 1-11 to 1-8.

Their hard work would be totally undone though as Cork once again found their extra player in attack with Shane Barrett landing the goal on this occasion to push the Rebels ahead again. 

This goal was followed by two more points for Cork and two more similar efforts for Limerick as Patrick Horgan finished the half off with two frees to leave the Rebels firmly in the lead 2-15 to 1-10 at half-time. 

Cian Lynch opened started the scoring of the second-half with a floating point from play just shy of the 45-yard line followed by an all too familiar Gillane free. 

Barry Nash finally found his range with his long frees from well inside the Limerick half, after missing two in the opening 35-minutes to keep the scoreboard ticking over. 

An all too familiar sight of Patrick Horgan stepped add another two points to his tally as Limerick's Cathal O'Neill tried to claw back his sides deficit as Cork continued to lead 2-19 to 1-16 after 45 minutes of play. 

Yet again Limerick found their man inside as Seamus Flanagan scored a wonder goal from an incredibly tight angle to bring the game right back with only two points in the difference. 

Points from Gillane and Hegarty pushed the Limerick team on once again but Cork battled on through Horgan frees to keep them in the lead.

Hegarty looked like a man possessed as he pushed over two points from play before Flanagan hammered home his third goal of the game to put Limerick ahead for the first time in the game, 3-22 to 2-23. 

O'Neill and Hayes added scores from range as Cork's Darragh Fitzgibbon slotted over his fifth point leaving the game in the balance. 

The Rebels never gave up as Horgan got another free for his side to leave them only one-point behind after 70 minutes of play. An Aidan O'Connor point was spoiled at the other end as Cork were awarded a penalty as Horgan put them in the lead to beat Limerick by two-points. 

SCORERS LIMERICK: Seamus Flanagan 3-3, Aaron Gillane 0-7 (0-7 frees), Gearoid Hegarty 0-4, Cathal O'Neill 0-3, Tom Morrissey 0-2, Diarmaid Byrnes 0-2 (0-2 frees), Adam English, Kyle Hayes, Cian Lynch, David Reidy, Aidam O'Connor 0-1 each

CORK: Patrick Horgan 1-11 (0-9 frees), Séamus Harnedy 1-2, Shane Barrett 1-2,Shane Barrett 1-1, Darragh Fitzgibbon 0-5, Declan Dalton 0-2 (0-2 frees), Alan Connolly 0-2, Brian Hayes 0-2, Ethan Twomey and Shane Kingston 0-1 each

LIMERICK: Nickie Quaid (Effin), Sean Finn (Bruff), Dan Morrissey (Ahane), Barry Nash (South Liberties), Diarmaid Byrnes (Patrickswell), Declan Hannon (C) (Adare) , Kyle Hayes (Kildimo/Pallaskenry), William O’Donoghue (Na Piarsaigh), Cian Lynch (Patrickswell), Gearoid Hegarty (St. Patricks), David Reidy (Dromin/Athlacca), Tom Morrissey (Ahane), Aaron Gillane (Patrickswell), Seamus Flanagan (Feohanagh/Castlemahon), Cathal O’Neill (Crecora/Manister)

SUBS: Fergal O’Connor (Effin) for S Finnn (37 minutes), Adam English (Doon) for D Reidy (48 minutes), Conor Boylan (Na Piarsaigh) for T Morrissey (60 minutes), Aidan O’Connor (Ballybrown) for D Hannon (67 minutes), Donnacha Ó Dálaigh (Monaleen) for A Gillane (69 minutes)

CORK: Patrick Collins, Niall O'Leary, Eoin Downey, Seán Donoghue (C), Tim O'Mahony, Robert Downey, Mark Coleman, Ethan Twomey, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Declan Dalton, Shane Barrett, Séamus Harnedy, Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes

SUBS: Damien Cahalane for Eoin Downey (22 minutes), Brian Roche for E Twomey (55 minutes), Ger Mellerick for M Coleman (60 minutes), Shane Kingston for D Dalton (61 minutes), Tommy O'Connell for R Downey (66 minutes)

REFEREE: Seán Stack (Dublin)