Two well-timed goals - twice as many as they managed during the entire championship last year - helped Cork subdue Limerick at Thurles yesterday. In so doing, the champions become the first side to reach the Guinness All-Ireland series and will contest next month's Munster final against Clare or Tipperary.

Limerick struggled bravely but, despite a number of good performances - particularly at the back - they weren't able to match Cork's all-round quality. Tight at the back, they got a steady supply of ball into the forwards and took enough of the chances to put up a convincing total.

Despite a niggly opening few minutes which featured a melee of wild pulling, there was rarely a competitive mood to the match even when Limerick took back a goal early in the second half. Cork, on several occasions, replied immediately to Limerick's scores and, with the possible exception of centrefield, they had an edge in all sectors.

As so often last year, Brian Corcoran ruled the field from centre back and briskly disposed of Ciaran Carey's threat with sleight of hand which appeared capable of thieving the ball in any circumstance. Fergal McCormack, pivoting at the other end, returned to his best championship form - shuttling across the line and offering a constantly varying target for Donal Cusack's puck-outs.

Behind Corcoran, Diarmuid O'Sullivan was in fine form. Brian Begley was unable to make much of an impression either in winning clean possession or in bringing the other Limerick forwards into the game.

In Cork's attack, Sean McGrath hacked up early on, exploiting Stephen Lucey's inexperience in the left corner with 1-1 in the opening 20 minutes. When Lucey was replaced in a defensive reshuffle, Brian Geary dropped back from the wing to the corner and made life a lot tighter and more restrictive for the Glen Rovers man.

Gloom wasn't unmitigated for Limerick. Mark Foley played a tigerish game at left wing back and, although given the slip the odd time in the early stages by Timmy McCarthy, he hit a great deal of ball and kept his performance levels consistently high all through the second half.

"Our backs played tremendously well," was Limerick manager Eamonn Cregan's view afterward. "When we got that goal we were back in the game, but suddenly, after TJ's great clearance, the ball comes back in and they get another goal.

"I was very happy with our defence and with a lot of our players. But we'd a lot of young players out there and there's potential for the future. There was patches of the game when the lads played beautiful hurling but we didn't play it often enough."

Symbolic of Limerick's frustrations was the killing goal for Cork. TJ Ryan played really well at full back and marked Joe Deane as effectively as anyone in the county could have hoped. In the 53rd minute, the latest confirmation of this unexpected state of affairs came with Ryan beating Deane, bursting out past him and launching a fine clearance.

Sean O hAilpin, another who had an excellent match, got underneath it and returned the ball with such dispatch and accuracy that the unfortunate Ryan was caught out-of-bounds. As he rushed back under the dropping ball, he was too late to prevent Deane making the deftest of contacts for the second goal.

For the first 10 minutes, the scoring was even enough. Then, in the 13th minute, O'Connell and Neil Ronan combined to give McGrath a run on Lucey. The Cork corner forward beat his man and got the vital touch past Joe Quaid for a 1-3 to 0-2 lead. From then on, Cork were in control.

They signed off for a five-point interval lead, 1-8 to 0-6, with a thundering strike from distance by the excellent Wayne Sherlock, whose tidying and clearing stood out even in exceptional company.

Limerick needed to start like a fire in the second half but they only flickered with a number of wides frustrating attempts at a comeback. On the scoreboard, the big chance came in the 43rd minute. James Butler took up an attack started from a clearance intercepted by Clem Smith. He ran at the defence and, in the act of rounding his markers, slipped but still managed to flick the ball to the net.

This cut the margin to two points - 1-8 to 1-10 - but Limerick needed to consolidate. Instead, McCarthy steamed away for a point in immediate response. After Deane's goal, the final quarter was a procession as Cork ambled to the finish stretching their lead to nine.

"We were fairly in control until they got their goal," was Jimmy Barry-Murphy's assessment. "But I was pleased at how we bounced back immediately and scored. Then Joe got a great goal and it was great to see us respond like that."

He was non-committal on the subject of varying his starting line-out from the 15 players who lined out for every match last season.

"There's always a certain loyalty to players who have won an All-Ireland for you and the subs who came off the bench last year worked very well. We'll reassess the situation after today but we've got a very strong panel."