Kingston: Limerick hurlers have "been at another level to any other team this year"

CORK manager Kieran Kingston lavished praise on Limerick as an “exceptional team” in the aftermath of the 16-point defeat for this side in Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC final.

“They are an exceptional team - a team wouldn’t win what they have won in the last four or five years if they weren’t an exceptional team,” said the Cork manager.

The sides swapped early goal but Limerick were then 13-points clear by half time and were to lead by 18-points in the 50th minute.

Like “trying to stop the tide with a bucket,” said Kingston of efforts to curtail Limerick.

“There’s huge credit due to (Limerick). I said at the press conference before the game that we were going up against a team, in my view, who were the best team I’ve seen since the great Kilkenny team. We know how good they are, they’re unlucky not to have four All-Irelands in a row, and we saw that today.”

He continued: “Massive congratulations to Limerick. From our perspective it was like trying to stop the tide with a bucket. Not a lot we could do - go short, go long, they were just at another level to Cork today. We have got to be honest and say that”.

“We came up with a belief - I believe in the group but today was a chastening experience for them, no doubt about that. We came up against a team at another level to us today - and they’ve been at another level to any other team this year, and over the last three or four years. We’ve seen that in games, we saw it in the Tipperary game, and we saw it today though the seventy minutes.

What of Cork?

“As they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and today will make them stronger. They certainly won’t come up under any illusions the next time they get here - though there’s no guarantees of getting to an All-Ireland final, it’s a long road any time - but it’ll make them resilient and teach them a lot in many ways,” said Kingston.