By John Harrington

Picture the scene.

It’s half-time in the 2018 All-Ireland SHC semi-final between Limerick and Cork and I bump into a couple of Limerick acquaintances imbibing refreshments at the back of the Hogan Stand.

Their mood is one of cautious optimism, with Limerick leading by a point at half-time.

We agree to meet in the same spot after the full-time whistle for another natter.

When we do, I’m surprised to see that one of them, let’s give him the pseudonym Jimmy Stanley for the purpose of this piece, isn’t as pleased as I’d expected him to be.

After all, Limerick looked dead and buried when they trailed by six points with 63 minutes, but they'd produced a stunning comeback and now the game was going to extra-time.

Jimmy Stanley was downbeat, though.

“We threw it away,” he complained. “We should never have given Horgan that free to level it.”

The last score of normal time had indeed been a converted free by Cork’s Patrick Horgan, but, considering Limerick seemed to be making the exit from the Championship a few minutes earlier, I had presumed Jimmy’s glass would be half-full.

Then it dawned on me.

“Jimmy, you do realise that there’s extra-time now, don’t you?”

Jimmy froze for a couple of wide-eyed seconds before setting a new world-record for draining a full pint of lager while simultaneously making his way towards his seat in the Hogan stand.

Luckily for Limerick, John Kiely and his players were more tuned in for extra-time than Jimmy was.

Substitutes like Shane Dowling, Peter Casey, and Pat Ryan who had inspired their comeback in normal time finished the job in extra-time as the flagging Rebels were put to the sword.

As for our friend, Jimmy Stanley, as you can imagine his glass was now both literally and metaphorically more than half-full when we met again after extra-time.

He had so many more glasses after that I later heard he was unable to find the keys to the front-door of his house that night and ended up sleeping in the car.

It didn’t occur to him that the key-ring that held the key to his car might also hold the key to his house.

Both he and an uneaten large bag of chips were discovered by a none too impressed wife early the following morning.

It was a tough Monday for the bould Jimmy, but at least Limerick were in the All-Ireland Hurling Final.

2018 All Ireland SHC Semi-Final

LIMERICK 3-32 CORK 2-31 (After extra-time)

Scorers for Limerick: Aaron Gillane 0-13 (7fs), Shane Dowling 1-4 (1-0 pen, 1f), Graeme Mulcahy 0-4, Cian Lynch 1-1, Gearoid Hegarty 0-3, Pat Ryan 1-0, David Reidy, Barry Nash, Tom Morrissey, Darragh O’Donovan, Kyle Hayes, Seamus Flanagan, Diarmuid Byrnes (free) 0-1 each.

Scorers for Cork: Patrick Horgan 1-11 (1-10fs), Conor Lehane 1-3, Darragh Fitzgibbon 0-4, Shane Kingston and Daniel Kearney 0-3 each, Seamus Harnedy and Mark Coleman (1 sideline) 0-2 each, Luke Meade, Christopher Joyce, Jack O’Connor 0-1 each

LIMERICK: Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Mike Casey, Richie English; Diarmudid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Dan Morrissey; Darragh O’Donovan, Cian Lynch; Tom Morrissey, Gearoid Hegarty, Kyle Hayes; Aaron Gillane, Seamus Flanagan, Graeme Mulcahy. Subs: Peter Casey for T Morrissey (51), Shane Dowling for Flanagan (57), Pat Ryan for Mulcahy (63), William O’Donoghue for O’Donovan (70), Seamus Hickey for Byrnes (77), Barry Nash for Gillane (84), David Reidy for Hannon (87).

CORK: Anthony Nash; Sean O’Donoghue, Damien Cahalane, Colm Spillane; Christopher Joyce, Eoin Cadogan, Mark Coleman; Bill Cooper, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Luke Meade, Seamus Harnedy, Daniel Kearney; Patrick Horgan, Shane Kingston, Conor Lehane. Subs: Robbie O’Flynn for Kingston (55), Mark Ellis for Kearney (60), Tim O’Mahony for Meade (65), Michael Cahalane for Cadogan (70), Daniel Kearney for M Cahalane (71), M Cahalane for Harnedy (77), Shane Kingston for Fitzgibbon (78), Jack O’Connor for Kearney (84).