Masters the class act in semi-final turn-off

Munster SFC Semi-final/Cork 0-9 Limerick 0-5: This report won't burden the reader with too many morbid details. Suffice to say, 4,242 people suffered through a lethargic excuse for a game of football at the Gaelic Grounds yesterday.

So to the positives.

Thank God for James Masters. Without him, Kerry's opposition in the Munster football final on July 9th would be a regressing Limerick as distinct from a mediocre Cork. The young Nemo Rangers prodigy kicked eight of Cork's nine points, five of which came from play. Three sweet swings of Masters's left boot in the last quarter ensured Billy Morgan's team pulled away after an abysmal first half that left them 0-5 to 0-3 in arrears.

Considering a clamour is already under way for November's Special Congress to abolish the current provincial championship structures, the timing of this game could not be worse. Even GAA president Nickey Brennan has admitted the championship format needs a facelift.

Yet up in the benchmark region of Ulster, Armagh and Fermanagh had earlier in the day put on another scintillating and ultra-competitive display. In Limerick it was like watching a different sport.

And then there is the small matter of this game being televised live yesterday evening on the same weekend the soccer World Cup enveloped the globe. The GAA are desperately trying to defend their brand from professional sports but a chunk of the Cork footballers could be found in the lobby of a local hotel two hours before throw-in watching Serbia and Montenegro against the Netherlands.

Maybe it suited them to tune into the soccer in the nerve-jangling build-up to action but what followed was the most miserable Munster football semi-final in recent memory.

Limerick temporarily rolled the clock back to 2003 in the opening exchanges, Eoin Keating in particular keeping his marker Graham Canty busy. Two Keating frees allied to contributions from Michael Crowley and two points from Micheál Reidy added up to an ideal start.

Masters kicked two points, then missed a 45 - at which point Morgan heard a supporter shouted for his immediate substitution - before recovering with an excellent strike that put Cork two points off the pace.

"We were lucky to be only two points behind at half-time," admitted Morgan at pitchside afterwards. "I think the second-half scoreline told its own story."

What happened out there?

"We had them watched and in the hotel this morning we discussed again what we thought they would do and they did exactly that and yet we were not at the races."

Morgan didn't seem overly perturbed by the standard on view as his only concern was to secure a rematch with old foes next month.

With the first-half cobwebs cleared, the stage seemed set for a humdinger of a second half.

Instead, and despite overly generous Cork defending, Limerick kicked their final score of the afternoon, via Keating, in the 25th minute.

Even the colossal fielding of midfielder John Galvin began to fade.

Kevin O'Sullivan reduced the deficit with a free from the left but he was pulled ashore midway through the second half and was followed soon after by an injured Fintan Goold, so the scoring responsibilities rested with Masters.

Last season he showed he was ready for such responsibility. Now he has added another 12 months of football maturity and the Rebel County has a real hero to worship. Poor corner back Pádraig Browne was repeatedly a whisker away as the ball was rifled over the bar.

Limerick's one-time hero Muiris Gavin came in for the agonising, and scoreless, last 10 minutes, promptly kicking two wides himself. Even the melee that broke out in Alan Quirke's goalmouth petered out through lack of aggression.

Mickey Ned O'Sullivan was hired to rebuild Limerick football this season after a mass exodus of talent but this morning the vastness of the task must be crystallising in the mind.

Lips pursed tightly, he began: "Credit goes to Cork. They tightened up the areas where they were poor in the first half. They began to control the middle of the field. Their half backs began to control our half-forward line. They then came forward with momentum.

"We had 75 per cent of possession in the first half and we didn't register it. That's where we lost the game. In the first half not the second half."

So how can Limerick recover from such a poor display?

"It's a challenge. There is no such thing as a setback. You learn from all these experiences. The team would have benefited. After all, you all came to watch a massacre today.

"You didn't get a massacre. You got a 100 per cent commitment from Limerick, who are short a few stars that other counties have. But we don't lack bottle and we don't lack heart.

"I'm proud of these guys. They believe in themselves. The media may not believe in them but those lads in there can walk out proud this evening."

Last we checked it was not the media's job to believe in teams. It is to report. Really and truly awful viewing is the report. Remote-control junkies all across the country were switching to Mexico versus Iran.

CORK: 1 A Quirke; 2 K O'Connor, 3 G Canty, 4 A Lynch; 5 N O'Leary, 6 G Spillane, 7 S Levis; 8 N Murphy, 9 D Kavanagh (capt); 10 C McCarthy, 11 D Niblock, 12 K McMahon; 13 J Masters (0-8, three frees), 14 F Goold, 15 K O'Sullivan (0-1, one free). Subs: 17 M Prout for K McMahon (half-time), 25 S O'Brien for F Goold (46 mins), 27 D O'Connor for K O'Sullivan (48 mins), 28 D Goulding for D Niblock (55 mins), 23 D Hurley for D Kavanagh (67 mins).

LIMERICK: 1 S Kiely; 2 S Gallagher, 3 J McCarthy, 4 P Browne; 5 C Mullane, 6 S Lavin, 7 A Lane; 8 J Stokes, 9 J Galvin; 14 J Murphy, 11 D Reidy, 12 S Buckley; 13 M Crowley (0-1, capt), 10 E Keating (0-2, two frees), 15 M Reidy (0-2). Subs: 18 T Carroll for J Stokes (10 mins, inj), 17 J Cooke for J Murphy (39 mins), 19 D Horan for D Reidy (57 mins), 22 M Gavin for E Keating (60 mins), 20 P Ahern for T Carroll (67 mins).

Referee: S Doyle (Wexford).