Limerick earn commanding win over Cork in the Senior Munster Hurling League

Limerick defeat Cork in the Senior Munster Hurling League 2026 to earn their first points of the group stage

Limerick get points on the board as they defeat Cork in the second round of the Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League 2026 at the TUS Gaelic Grounds

Limerick put on an impressive display in round two of the Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League to take the points over Cork at the TUS Gaelic Grounds with a resounding victory of 1-28 to 0-16 in front og a crowd of more than 2,000.

John Kiely announced a squad with 9 changes from the round one opener, which saw the Treaty team fall away to Clare in a tight game. Player commitments for the Fitzgibbon Cup saw 13 of the panel representing University of Limerick, Mary Immaculate College, and University College Cork on Wednesday evening.

Leading the charge, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh brought his impressive form into the game, notching 1-3 along with some clinical free and placed ball efforts from Tom Morrisey who racked up 0-6. Ó Dálaigh’s performance sees him bring his tally to three goals in two league games as Limerick now sit level on points with first-placed Clare.

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John Kiely named a strong Limerick selection featuring seven All-Stars, notably among the starting 15 was the return of captain, Cian Lynch  who scored 0-3 and was among the 13 different scorers for the Shannonsiders on the evening.

Limerick asserted control early, tallying up 27 shots in the opening half and limiting Cork to just 10, high pressure from Limerick saw the Cork team overturn the ball high up the pitch, allowing Limerick to capitalise and pull away.

At half-time, Limerick led 0-16 to 0-7 and quickly extended their advantage after the restart, with Limerick not slowing down and Ó Dálaigh’s strike in the 50th minute from a beautiful flicked pass from Hugh Flanagan saw Limerick extend their lead to 1-25 to 0-12. Limerick were held to 3 more scores for the remainder of the game with Cork tacking on 4 more points, bringing the final score to 1-28 to 0-16, taking the two points against what was an ‘experimental’ Cork side.

Speaking with TG4 Spórt after the game, John Kiely said of the team selection, “A  lot of those lads haven’t had a game for quite some time. They’ve had five or six weeks of work done now in the preseason, they’re mad to get out and just play a game, and this has been a beautiful evening here – seven, eight degrees, beautiful pitch, great condition.”

He added, “Just to get out, get a game under our belts. And it was a nice mix of experience with youth. And so those that hadn’t maybe so much to experience, and I thought overall the cohesiveness was quite good.”

The Limerick manager said he was impressed with the “overall attitude” of the performance. He said, “ I thought every play, they worked as hard as they could. It didn’t always go right for them. When we made mistakes, we worked hard to recover and get the ball back. And I thought we communicated well across the lines.”

With Clare and Cork set to play their round 2 game on Monday, January 12, Limerick will have to wait until then to see what lies ahead for them in the next phase of the league.