Collins was brilliant for Cork all day with the puckouts, but this special moment stood out.
Catch the highlights of that incredible game there:
Pat Ryan, Cork manager: “This is a fantastic Limerick team, what a team they’ve been for the past 7 years, they’ve driven up the standards and a credit to the game.
“We thought they were gonna come back and beat us like they anyone! Lads will celebrate tonight, we need to enjoy it. We will look after what happens with Clare next week. We’re just delighted to get over it.”
Cork fans having the time of their life in Hill 16. Big day for the Rebels.
Brian Hayes man of the match, speaking on RTÉ, after scoring 1-4: “We’re firm believers are the hardest games are internally and we need to keep going next two weeks. We believe 100% in our own team. We had that belief, thankfully we got over the line today.”
The goal that proved to be the difference maker:
74 mins: Coleman drops it short, but the clearance goes back to Cork and they win a sideline. Just a minute left! They haven’t scored since the 64th minute, but hanging on. Poor sideline straight to Limerick. Free to Limerick and Byrnes launches it. Downey holds onto it, Collins gets out. and ref blows the final whistle! Cork win!
FULL-TIME: Limerick 0-29 Cork 1-28
Champions dethroned!
72 mins: Cork hit the post, falls to Patrick Horgan and he could have finished it but Quaid saves! Limerick keep going. Long ball into the square by O’Neill, Gillane falls over in the square but it’s wide. Brilliant catch by O’Leary and he’s fouled, respite for Cork.
Limerick 0-29 Cork 1-28
70 mins: Byrnes is fouled, Hayes gets a yellow as Limerick turn the screw to stay in the championship. Byrnes drops it in, Fitzgibbon catches. Scrappy ball that Limerick win, O’Brien misses.
Limerick 0-29 Cork 1-28
68 mins: Limerick show their champions class and English scores another great point, it’s down to three now. Can Cork hold on? Then Lynch plucks on from the air and Hegarty scores a monster score. Wow.
Limerick 0-29 Cork 1-28
66 mins: A long ball then gives Cork a goal chance but Hayes hits it over, he’ll take that to keep the score ticking. Gillane scores controversially from a free for an illegal hand pass by Cork, looked fine in the replay. Limerick going long and O’Brien scores, back to four.
Limerick 0-27 Cork 1-28
64 mins: Elbow into the chest/neck area by O’Donovan on Harnedy, maybe slightly lucky to get away with a yellow for that one for Limerick. Patrick Horgan does his job though with a well-hit free to bring it back to a five-point lead.
Limerick 0-25 Cork 1-27
62 mins: English finds his range to get his first score of the game. Connolly gets a yellow for a cynical foul as Shane Kingston comes on for Dalton. Another great catch from Gillane, turn and shoot under pressure. Just a brilliant hurler.
Limerick 0-25 Cork 1-26
60 mins: Limerick just don’t have the same range today as Adam English misses another but Limerick won’t lose hope yet, champions well capable of scoring four or five in a row. Dalton misses a sideline ball.
Limerick 0-23 Cork 1-26
58 mins: Patrick Horgan scores, Niall O’Leary bursting through, that’s back to seven. Byrnes misses another free but from the rebound O’Brien takes a nice store.
Limerick 0-23 Cork 1-26
56 mins: Hayes misses after another Hawk Eye that showed it was clearly wide. Hayes goes up and scores. Collins hits a brilliant quick puck out to Fitzgibbon to score.
Limerick 0-22 Cork 1-25
53 mins: Relentless Cork pace continues, beating Limerick at their own pace. Shane O’Brien on for Flanagan for Limerick to try to change things up. Gillane’s free goes to Hawk Eye, successful this time. Reidy off for Limerick.
Limerick 0-21 Cork 1-24
51 mins: Finn fouls Hayes and Horgan sticks it over. Now it’s a six-point lead for Cork with 20 minutes left plus stoppage time. Can Cork see it out? Great catch by Robert Downey and pass to Harnedy, yet another score. Seven points.
Limerick 0-20 Cork 1-24
49 mins: Dalton finally misses one. Gillane is on front of his man and catches and scores. He won’t go ahead Gillane, back to four points. Both teams with more than 20 points each after 50 minutes. Limerick then mess up their passing build-up and Harnedy scores well.
Limerick 0-20 Cork 1-22
47 mins: Goal chance! Gillane collects a long ball, he lays off to Hegarty who shoots but brilliant save by Collins. Gillane falls when trying to score the rebound. Dalton then scores a monster score to put Cork five ahead!
Limerick 0-19 Cork 1-21
45 mins: Byrnes takes his time with a free but scores, Cork win the puckout and Hayes scores. Then O’Neill pushes through on goal but misses. Dalton is free on the sideline and scores from distance. Yet another miss for Limerick follows, this time O’Donoghue.
Limerick 0-19 Cork 1-20
43 mins: Wow, a superb score by Dalton from way in his own half to make it seven points for Cork in just seven minutes. Then Cork win it again after Limerick give the ball away sloppily but Horgan’s shot is blocked.
Limerick 0-18 Cork 1-18
41 mins: Gillane shows his power to score his fourth from play. Barrett then scores after a run down the sideline and smart score.
Limerick 0-18 Cork 1-17
39 mins: A surprising miss by Gillane from a free, and another miss by Byrnes as Cork take the lead by two, Barrett and Horgan scores another.
Limerick 0-17 Cork 1-16
37 mins: Immediately from the throw-in for the second half it goes the way of the first and Fitzgibbon scores. Then Patrick Horgan scores his 700th point with a nice flicked score. Back level. Cathal O’Neill then with a great point after a flick from Lynch. Shane Barrett then scores. So four scores in less than two minutes to start this half! Madness.
Limerick 0-17 Cork 1-14
Brilliant game here at Croke Park. Cork showed high intensity for the first 20 minutes and were flying past Limerick with some great scores, including a goal by Brian Hayes, to take a five-point lead. But Limerick eased into the half and started to get control of their defence and midfield and turned the screw to give themselves a two-point lead at the break. Still plenty to play for Cork, who have matched Limerick for large periods, but whether they can keep it up for 70 minutes remains to be seen.
Here is the Hayes goal:
A nice Limerick score by Reidy after a great pass by Hegarty:
38 mins: Another score for Limerick, David Reidy with a great catch and another good point. Cathal O’Neill tries for an opportunist score but misses. Shane Barrett shows his pace and goes for goal but saved by Quaid, but goes over the bar. That’s the half over.
HALF-TIME: Limerick 0-16 Cork 1-11
35 mins: Declan Dalton’s free goes short and cleared by Limerick. Slightly scrappy few minutes of the game, delay might have taken a bit of momentum out of the game. Byrnes has a long free, which he scores, that will be great for his confidence.
Limerick 0-15 Cork 1-10
33 mins: Connolly scores an important one for Cork to keep within one. A delay to take a breath as Flanagan and Downey get yellow cards for pushing and shoving. Shane Kingston on for Horgan in a blood sub.
Limerick 0-14 Cork 1-10
30 mins: Cynical foul by Finn after a great pass by Fitzgibbon to O’Mahony. Now Horgan for his 700th point, looked like an easy one this time to level the scores, but he misses inexplicably. Very poor game from the Cork legend so far. Limerick punish with Hegarty winning a high ball and laying off to Gillane to score.
Limerick 0-14 Cork 1-9
28 mins: Gillane scores from a free to level the scores again. Hegary hits a beautiful long pass to Reidy who catches and all of a sudden Limerick are ahead.
Limerick 0-13 Cork 1-9
26 mins: Another miss by Horgan. Punished by Limerick as Lynch gets a nice score from the wing. Patrick Collins then hits a very poor puckout straight to Gillane who scores. Too many errors last five minutes from Cork. We’re level. Then another goal chance from Cork, Hayes nearly gets another with a flick over the keeper, but over the bar to put Cork ahead again.
Limerick 0-11 Cork 1-9
24 mins: Cathal O’Neill scores from the middle of the field and all of a sudden Limerick have score three in a row. Then a goal chance. Limerick had numbers over and Collins saves from Gillane brilliantly!
Limerick 0-9 Cork 1-8
22 mins: Point for Morrissey from the left after sharp work by Reidy. Byrnes wins the puckout and scores from absolutely miles out. Amazing score.
Limerick 0-8 Cork 1-8
20 mins: Byrnes hits into the keeper’s hand and Cork play it long again. Connolly bursts through again and under pressure he throws the ball and while it’s finished in the back of the net, it’s disallowed. Point from Hayes only a few moments later to bring it to a five-point lead.
Limerick 0-6 Cork 1-8
18 mins: GOAL FOR CORK! Barry Hayes with a goal, Harnedy plays it inside, he beats his man for pace and buries it in the corner. Then Limerick with a goal chance but Gillane slips and a free out for throwing the ball.
Limerick 0-6 Cork 1-7
16 mins: Patrick Horgan hits the post from a free as he tries to score his 700th point. Harnedy scores though off his left a few moment later. Hegarty then misses an easy chance, unusual.
Limerick 0-6 Cork 0-7
14 mins: Goal attempt by Connolly from a long ball but it’s at the sidenetting. David Reidy pushes away the Cork defender from the puckout and scores powerfully to level the scores before Connolly misses a chance of a point.
Limerick 0-6 Cork 0-6
12 mins: Blink and you’d miss this! Some 11 scores in as many minutes. Harnedy beats his man and shoots off his left from the middle of the pitch. Lovely pass then by Harnedy flicking it into Mark Coleman who scores superbly. Morrissey catches the puckout and then hits a beautiful score.
Limerick 0-5 Cork 0-6
10 mins: Cathal O’Neill scores a great one from near the sideline after a nice assist from Lynch. Long ball then to Gillane, but Flanagan collects and smoothly slots one over the bar.
Limerick 0-4 Cork 0-4
8 mins: Cork keep up the intensity and Alan Connolly scores a point, followed up 20 seconds later by Fitzgibbon winning the puckout and putting it straight over. Cork had four without reply but Cork penalised for overcarrying and a Limerick free. Gillane sticks it over.
Limerick 0-2 Cork 0-4
6 mins: Another miss by Morrissey, Fitzgibbon misses too. Quaid’s puckout is caught by Cork and they win a free from distance. Dalton scores and Cork take the lead.
Limerick 0-1 Cork 0-2
4 mins: Eoin Downey blocks down a shot from Seamus Flanagan, Byrnes misses the 65. Limerick winning a lot of the breaking ball early on though. Tom Morrissey misses from range before Robert Downey sprints through the middle and score powerfully to level the scores.
Limerick 0-1 Cork 0-1
2 mins: First point of the day from Aaron Gillane, expect him to score plenty today!
Limerick 0-1 Cork 0-0
Full house today in Croke Park, quite the spectacle!

Limerick and Clare teams are as they were in the original team sheets. Here they are again:
LIMERICK: Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Mike Casey; Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Kyle Hayes; Will O’Donoghue, Cathal O’Neill; Gearóid Hegarty, Cian Lynch, Tom Morrissey; Aaron Gillane, Seamus Flanagan, David Reidy. Subs: Jason Gillane, Conor Boylan, Colin Coughlan, Adam English, Richie English, Graeme Mulcahy, Shane O’Brien, Aidan O’Connor, Fergal O’Connor, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Darragh O Donovan.
CORK: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Eoin Downey, Sean O’Donoghue; Tim O’Mahony, Robert Downey, Mark Coleman; Ciarán Joyce, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Declan Dalton, Shane Barrett, Seamus Harnedy; Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes. Subs: Brion Saunderson, Damien Cahalane, Ger Mellerick, Tommy O’Connell, Luke Meade, Ethan Twomey, Conor Lehane, Jack O’Connor, Shane Kingston, Padraig Power, Robbie O’ Flynn.
Nicky English writes in his column that Cork’s emergence as the fourth county is just what hurling needs. “For the past two years we have had Clare and Kilkenny in one semi-final and Limerick and Galway in the other but Cork bring a different dimension.
“Limerick have had the four-week adjustment since the Munster final, which they are old hands at managing and coming into Croke Park in a higher gear than in Munster. They can certainly be depended upon to be at a different register than two months ago.
“Diarmaid Byrnes is back in form and although Barry Nash is a loss if he doesn’t play – he’s their main distributor from the back – Seán Finn’s arrival is not going to hurt them defensively and may even be a benefit in controlling the chaos and shutting down that Cork madness.
“If Cork can re-release the genie, we’ve a match but they’ll need to create that chaos and score goals but Limerick’s middle third has looked ominously closer to being back to their best.”
[ Nicky English: Limerick look best bet to make another hurling finalOpens in new window ]
Clare came back against Kilkenny yesterday in a thrilling finale to the semi-final. Faced with a third successive semi-final defeat by Kilkenny, Clare outstared the abyss to reach a first final in 11 years, writes Seán Moran. Manager Brian Lohan said:
““There was that pressure – to lose three in a row up here, on the back of three in a row in Munster – but sometimes you just get fed up and it has to stop some time. Things turn around when you work hard and our lads work hard.”
[ Brian Lohan: ‘Sometimes you just get fed up and it has to stop some time’Opens in new window ]
Denis Walsh writes that chastening days in Croke Park at Limerick’s hands have fed into Cork’s recent evolution.
“Where are Cork now? In the Gaelic Grounds last year Cork outscored Limerick by six points in the last 10 minutes and lost by a point; in Páirc Uí Chaoimh this year they outscored Limerick by six points in the last seven minutes and won by two. They had more shots than Limerick in this fixture for the first time in five years, according to O’Connor. Cork were aggressive. They won the puck-out battle. They didn’t play with fear. Or deference.”
Can they continue that evolution today?
[ Rebel project paused and shaped by Limerick’s hurling lessonsOpens in new window ]
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the second All-Ireland semi-final between Limerick and Cork, throw-in at 4pm at Croke Park. Yesterday, Clare came from behind to beat Kilkenny, and the Banner will face one of these two in the final. The favourites are undoubtedly Limerick, who are chasing five All-Irelands in a row, and six in seven years. What will give Cork hope though is they beat Limerick by two points in the Munster championship in a belter of a game. The Rebels scored an incredible 3-28 that day. That sort of points total might be needed again to beat the champions.
LIMERICK: Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Mike Casey; Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Kyle Hayes; Will O’Donoghue, Cathal O’Neill; Gearóid Hegarty, Cian Lynch, Tom Morrissey; Aaron Gillane, Seamus Flanagan, David Reidy. Subs: Jason Gillane, Conor Boylan, Colin Coughlan, Adam English, Richie English, Graeme Mulcahy, Shane O’Brien, Aidan O’Connor, Fergal O’Connor, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Darragh O Donovan.
CORK: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Eoin Downey, Sean O’Donoghue; Tim O’Mahony, Robert Downey, Mark Coleman; Ciarán Joyce, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Declan Dalton, Shane Barrett, Seamus Harnedy; Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes. Subs: Brion Saunderson, Damien Cahalane, Ger Mellerick, Tommy O’Connell, Luke Meade, Ethan Twomey, Conor Lehane, Jack O’Connor, Shane Kingston, Padraig Power, Robbie O’ Flynn.