WE CAME UP SHORT: JOHN

SIX points up and with time running out, John Meyler could almost taste an All-ireland final day out.

But it wasn’t to be for his Cork side that died with their boots on – but crucially ran out of steam in extra-time.

“We came up short,” accepted the Rebels boss. “It’s a small bit funny when you draw a Leinster final and there’s a replay. I’m not making excuses – I’ve never made excuses.

“But if you draw a Leinster final, you get a replay. You draw an All-ireland semi-final at full-time, you don’t.

“They’re the rules and we just have to play to them. We were extremely competitive for the 70 minutes, we just lost our way for those two minutes (when Limerick scored two extra-time goals).

“Limerick drove on. They’ve matured, as well. We have too. They are probably a small bit further than us in terms of their senior younger players, the likes of

Kyle Hayes, Cian

Lynch had a massive contribution,

(Tom)

Morrissey and those. That’s the gap. The fact that we were six up in the 62nd minute and failed to close it out was a critical point. “Their goal (Cian Lynch’s before half time), I don’t know was (Daniel) Kearney going down on the ball. We could have got a foul there. “Limerick drove on. You had (Peter) Casey and (Shane) Dowling come in and they made a massive contribution.

“Going to extra-time, there was a point in it, but the penalty killed it. “They were extremely good today – I take my hat off to them.”