ROBERT DOWNEY hailed boss Pat Ryan after Cork ended Limerick’s supremacy in Munster in an epic final that went to a thrilling penalty shootout.
Ryan led his side to provincial glory for the first time since 2018 last night.
And skipper Downey said: “I don’t think he realises how much we love him.
“But on days like these, I’m going to tell him. Pat, we love you to bits.”
Beaten boss John Kiely felt the Rebels got ‘the rub of the green’ with the amount of added time played by stand-in referee James Owens.
The Limerick gaffer said: “We felt that there were three minutes gone.
“It’s hard to find three minutes of added time in a ten-minute half.”
At the end of extra-time, one additional minute was signalled.
But there were 3min and 45sec on the clock when Cork’s Darragh Fitzgibbon scored the 65 that sent the contest to penalties.
Kiely continued: “We’ll have to go back, watch the tape, analyse it and break it down before we formulate a concrete opinion.
“But it was a little, I suppose, difficult to understand.”
Three weeks after they suffered a 16-point hammering at the hands of the same opposition, Cork scuppered Limerick’s seven-in-a-row quest following an engrossing affair at the Gaelic Grounds.
Ryan said: “We were just focused on coming up here and really going to battle with Limerick and representing the jersey, representing our people.
“The people are spending money to come up here and we didn’t give them any value for money the last day.
“I think both teams gave fierce value for money to their supporters today and to everyone.
“We have no doubt in the character of our fellas. We have no doubt in the ability that they have.
“I think everybody has said that. You have to go and prove it every time.
“I’m here three years. We thought that performance three weeks ago was gone out of this team. As I said, I genuinely take a bit of blame for that.”
Ryan’s own frustration with ref Thomas Walsh — who went off injured in extra-time — seemed apparent as he approached the Waterford official at half-time.
But the Cork chief said: “We’re all fighting tooth and nail for the calls.
“The game is so fast. Thomas is a fantastic referee. We’re fighting for calls. John Kiely is fighting for calls. That’s just the nature of it.”
Asked why he approached Walsh, Ryan responded: “Just to say he was doing a great job.”
