REBELS ON THE RISE

Cork take title but Kiely confident of response

- BY PAT NOLAN

A 15TH FINAL for John Kiely as Limerick manager and a first defeat.

Well, kind of.

His side were leading the Munster final at the end of normal time and extra time on Saturday only for Cork to get the scores to force an extra 20 minutes and, ultimately, penalties, where they came unstuck.

It was the first time a top tier hurling Championship game was decided in this fashion, which wouldn't be satisfactory to many and, indeed, the Munster Council wouldn't have been averse to a replay and surely another sellout at Páirc Uí Chaoimh after 43,580 paid in here.

But, in the end, Conor Lehane, Shane Kingston and Alan Connolly scored their penalties for Cork, rendering Darragh Fitzgibbon's miss irrelevant in the end as Barry Murphy, Tom Morrissey and Declan Hannon failed to find the target for Limerick after Diarmaid Byrnes and Aaron Gillane had dispatched their first two.

"I think everybody would agree that it's in normal play that a game should be finished," said Kiely.

"But listen, these are the rules, these are the procedures and we have to go with that, you know.

"Fair play to Cork. They took the penalties when it came around.