JOHN Mullane has warned Cork’s panel that they may have inadvertently supplied Limerick with “a lot of fuel” with their pub sing-song.
A video of players singing a mocking song about Limerick following their Munster final triumph has been widely circulated on social media.
Manager Pat Ryan is visible in the video though he is not seen singing along[/caption]
Mullane’s media work also includes co-commentary for Saturday/Sunday Sport on RTE Radio 1[/caption]
Most people have dismissed it as harmless banter that is commonplace when any team beats a rival in a major final.
Mullane shares this view but did caution that there may be an unintended consequence to come from it in the form of extra motivation for Limerick should they meet for a third time this summer.
Speaking on the Indo GAA podcast, the Waterford great gave his take on how much it does or doesn’t matter.
He said: “Just watching the celebrations after the match, I think the Limerick players were going in and Kiely called them back, and he got the whole Limerick players to sit through the celebrations.
“You’re even seeing some of the videos circulating…
“Now it’s fantastic to see the Cork players and management celebrating in the manner in which they are, and they’re fully entitled to celebrate.
“To win a Munster Championship is so hard, you should rightly celebrate it in the manner in which it deserves to be celebrated.
“But if you’re a Limerick player and you’re on that Limerick management team, you’re watching those celebrations.
“And you’re seeing some of those videos circulating around, knowing that we should’ve won that match, I can only imagine how peed off some of those Limerick players were Saturday night.
“There’s a lot of fuel there now, there’s a lot of fuel now there that they can go and use in their favour.
“It’s just set up lovely if these teams meet in six weeks’ time.”
The Rebels’ collective mood was sure to have been particularly jubilant on Saturday night since they’d been walloped by 16 points when the two sides had met just 20 days previously.
Once again the Gaelic Grounds was the venue but this time around Pat Ryan’s charges were able to match the Treaty’s intensity throughout a frenetic 94 minutes of hurling warfare.
Ultimately, the contest was settled using the surreal method of a penalty shoot-out.
The merits of such a tie-breaker being used in hurling in this post-replay era have since been debated far and wide.
Similarly, the amount of injury time that was tacked on at the end of the second half of extra time continues to stir up arguments among Cork and Limerick supporters.
