They lit the blue touch paper on the Munster hurling championship yesterday and, when the smoke had cleared, the balance of power was back with the old aristocrats of the south.

A game which began in a blizzard of fists and a fury of scores ended with Cork's second championship victory in six years. The Gaelic Grounds in Limerick greeted the result like the announcement of some bad news about the home team. Limerick, who have struggled so mightily over the last five years, won't be gracing the big time again for some time.

Cork pulled away in a second half which seemed designed to illustrate the difference between appetite and exhaustion. Time after time Limerick players arrived with alarm bells ringing only to find that a red jersey had been and gone already.

For Cork manager Jimmy Barry Murphy, in the third year of a tenure marked by continued famine, the game was another sign that a time of plenty beckons.

"I thought the turning point for us was the goal not long before half-time. We were trailing by four points, and went into half-time leading by one. We needed a championship win. We have Clare in three weeks. The matches are coming thick and fast for you now."

Limerick began the match with a shuffling of their pack which saw changes at centre forward, midfield and wing back. No real success followed in any sector. Jack Foley, at wing back, conceded four points to Seanie McGrath in the opening 15 minutes. Mark Foley's move to centre forward raised no eyebrows on the Cork bench.

"I wasn't surprised to see him," said Cork centre back Brian Corcoran. "We had heard two weeks ago that Mark Foley would be playing there."

Corcoran tended the gateway to a defence which settled down from a nervy start to enjoy a period of uniform excellence through till the final minutes, when concentration strayed.

"We gave away two stupid goals, but thankfully we were far enough ahead," said Corcoran. "If we had gone in at half-time four points down we would have struggled."

Cork go on to play All-Ireland champions Clare on June 21st in Thurles in a game which may settle some arguments as to whether Clare were pulling up when the sides met in the National League semi-final last month.

"Cork are good," said Limerick manager Eamonn Cregan. "They are into the semi-final of the Munster championship. You have to be good. I'll have to look at it in the cold light. I don't like looking at games that we have lost in."

The inquest will be meaningless to the handful of Limerick players who are likely to quit the intercounty scene after lengthy careers which brought plenty of big days but not many good times. Gary Kirby, Mike Houlihan, Declan Nash, Pa Carey, and Ger Hegarty are all likely to consider their futures after yesterday's defeat.

In Parnell Park, Dublin, the home team, had a sobering championship outing, which had experts revising the length of time it would take the hurling championship to return to the capital. Michael O'Grady promised in 1996 that it would take six years. Having seen his side lose by 4-23 to 0-14 yesterday, he might want to revise the estimate.

DJ Carey left the field before the end with a standing ovation ringing in his ears. His return to hurling after the briefest sabbatical in the history of the game was about moments such as these. He scored a wondrous goal after four minutes, and finished his work with 1-8 to comprehensively puncture the air of colossal expectation which had built up in Dublin hurling circles over the past few months.

Having got to half-time trailing Kilkenny by just a point, Dublin's big push just never came, and the match turned - if a 21-point thrashing can be said to have contained a turning point - on a fine goal from Brian McEvoy who caught the ball at midfield, soloed towards the Dublin goal, swapped passes with Charlie Carter and then crashed the ball home.

Elsewhere, there were football wins for Derry, Louth, Tipperary and Sligo.