LIMERICK skipper Cian Lynch only learned that the Munster SHC final would be settled on penalties when the teams were still deadlocked after extra-time.
Twelve months after they became the first team ever to win six Mick Mackey Cups on the spin, the Treaty’s part in the making of more history was a bitter pill to swallow.
Their provincial title was relinquished on Saturday following a defeat to Cork in the only hurling final at Liam MacCarthy Cup level ever to be decided by a penalty shootout.
Lynch said: “It’s something we’re not used to. On the winning side of it, you’re delighted with it. It’s great credit to Cork.
“They got the victory in penalties and the game could have gone either way.
“Look, it’s something to obviously review. Penalties… like, hurling is so instinctive. It’s an art form, it’s an expression.
“Why do people play it? It’s because it’s a 15-man game. It’s a chance to have a man on the shoulder to support.
“But when it comes to penalties, other than the five guys and the goalie, I suppose you’re helpless standing on the sideline watching. It’s tough for guys, but it is what it is.”
Cork ran out 3-2 winners in the shootout at the TUS Gaelic Grounds.
But Lynch expected more extra-time to be played after Darragh Fitzgibbon landed a ‘65 to bring Cork back to level terms with what turned out to be the last puck of open play.
He said: “I suppose in my own head initially, you think there’s going to be an extra five minutes each half because that’s the way it was before, wasn’t it?
“But I suppose when it’s said it’s penalties, you just accept that and that’s obviously the way it is.”
Lynch admits that even at the end of extra-time, he would have preferred to settle the final via a replay in Cork instead.
The two-time Hurler of the Year, who made way for Diarmaid Byrnes just before the shootout, insisted: “Of course you would. You love playing the sport.
“There are pros and cons to either. I suppose it’s not for me to make a point or make a comment on what’s the right thing to do, but you’d love to have another crack at it.
“Any team would. But for us, it’s just about accepting that that’s in the past now.”
Lynch explained that he ‘wouldn’t be someone that’s known to stand over a free or a penalty’ when quizzed about his own absence from Limerick’s quintet of penalty takers.
Although the teams could not be separated following more than 90 minutes of hurling, he also rejected the suggestion that it was ultimately a game Limerick did not lose.
Speaking as Limerick’s representative at the All-Ireland SHC launch at Offaly’s Faithful Fields, Lynch said: “It’s still a defeat. Obviously you look at the time played and so on.
“Neither team won and it went to penalties and that’s just the way it was.
“You obviously are disappointed. You see an opposition collecting a trophy and celebrating with their fans and stuff.
“That’s tough to take. You just have to dust yourself off, regroup, process that feeling and try to drive on again.”
While they could now be on course for an All-Ireland semi-final meeting with a Kilkenny team they defeated in the 2022 and 2023 deciders, Limerick’s attention is fixed on their quarter-final against Dublin or Kildare.
Lynch added: “That’s something that’s way beyond our thought process. I think next Saturday week is our main focus.”
Meanwhile, despite being part of the St Thomas’ side who defeated Ballygunner in a shootout in an All-Ireland Club SHC semi-final, Fintan Burke is not an advocate for determining a winner via penalties.
The Galway defender, who had his attempt saved by Stephen O’Keeffe in the December 2023 clash, said: “Obviously delighted we won, but at the same time I’d be of the opinion of a replay. That’s just personal.
“I don’t think penalties are a fair reflection of where a team is at – as in, you could have five great penalty takers and maybe the other team only has three.
“It’s not really reflecting on hurling throughout the team.”
