HURLING: REBELS MADE MOST

WHAT an epic game the Munster Final was.

- davyfitzgerald

The commitment. The intensity. Some of the scores. The use of the ball. The tackling. It had it all. One of the best Munster finals I've seen in years.

I think a big part of the reason the game was so enthralling and so good was down to ref Thomas Walsh.

Sometimes referees can get very caught up in rules. I've been at Championship games with 30 or 40 frees and to me that ruins it.

Yes there were things Walsh could have easily blown for in the first half but he let it flow. There were only three frees before the break, but if there was something dangerous he pulled it.

I know the altercation at half-time might have made him blow a few more frees in the second half but in general his contribution was immense and neither side could complain.

I wish a lot more refs would take that approach as hurling would be better for it.

In the first 15 minutes Tom Morrissey was outstanding, I felt he faded big-time after that, but he was causing Cork problems, getting on ball, coming from side to side and getting scoring chances.

The big thing with Cork in the first half compared to the last day was running the ball into the right spots.

They didn't just get the ball and hit it. They worked it into different areas in the middle of the field to try and pull out the Limerick half-back line.

Their use of the ball was fantastic.

Cork didn't just hit 80- or 100-yard balls down on top of the Limerick full-back line.

They were very smart in how they used it, getting them short passes.

Once they got to midfield, they either shot from distance or got the ball deep to the inside line.

That, along with their phenomenal work-rate, which was especially evident at the start of the second half with their half-forward line getting back deep on Limerick puck-outs and winning a lot of breaks, was important.