AS THE CLOCK ticked past the allotted five minutes of stoppage-time at the end of the second-half and Aaron Gillane stood over a free, Cian Lynch and Darragh O’Donovan shared an embrace in midfield. 

With Limerick leading by 16 point, the battle was won. All that was left was for the referee to sound the final whistle and let the celebrations begin. 

It was an awesome performance by Limerick and typically, Lynch’s fingerprints were all over their good play. The prevailing narrative coming into Sunday was that Cork would need to find a way of stopping the Patrickswell ace to have any chance of causing an upset. 

Kieran Kingston was faced with two options: to put Mark Coleman closely tracking him or allow the centre-back sweep and have a midfielder drop back to man-mark Lynch. 

In the first-half, Coleman dropped off when the opportunity presented itself… 

…and Luke Meade followed the number 11.

After half-time, Coleman pushed up Lynch but it left oceans of space in front of the full-forward line to cause wreck. 

In both scenarios, Lynch was unplayable. The man-of-the-match finished with 0-6 from play, laying on 2-6 for his team-mates. He completed all 11 of his passes by stick and hand and tackled like a dog all afternoon, forcing three turnovers and an interception.

Despite his otherworldly talents, Lynch’s vision and unselfishness makes him the perfect centre-forward for this Limerick team. When John Kiely’s side swept to their first Liam MacCarthy success, he was the heartbeat of the side at midfield.

The switch of Kyle Hayes to wing-back for the 2020 season opened up the number 11 slot for Lynch. The Treaty look a far more complete side with the former Hurler of the Year pushed further forward. It’s more difficult to man-mark a centre-forward than it is a midfielder, given the habit how modern centre-backs like to protect their full-back line. 

Lynch floated around and often found himself unmarked in pockets of space in the middle third. 

In the opening 35 minutes he had just seven possessions, yet he made such a decisive impact every time he touched the ball. He had 14 touches after the break and although his efficiency slipped somewhat with the odd wide and ball that went over the sideline, he remained highly influential.

It took Lynch less than 10 seconds to open his account, taking a pass from Will O’Donoghue and slotting over. It was an early warning sign and set the tone for another barnstorming display.

Lynch received a ball from Seamus Flanagan, flicked up and fired over from 45 metres for his second point within six minutes of the restart. His third arrives at the midway point of the half when he’s set-up by a fantastic long Aaron Gillane handpass.

His first assist came in the fifth minute after winning a hard ball down the sideline, he fed Declan Hannon’s marauding run for a score. After he put in a perfectly flighted pass for Aaron Gillane to collect, win a free and slot over, Limerick had 2-15 on the board after just 29 minutes. It was devastating stuff.

His final assist arrived in the 72nd minute with a lovely low arrow into substitute Pat Ryan, summing up Lynch’s willingness to get others involved.

He had several other moments of magic over the 70 minutes. 

1. Assist for Hegarty’s goal 

Lynch contests a long puck-out in front of the Cusack Stand in the third minute. Meade’s mis-judged attempt to flick the ball back into play is collected by Lynch. He turns back inside Rob Downey and immediately his head is raised, scanning for a team-mate.

He dummies a handpass to go by Tim O’Mahony, as Gearoid Hegarty makes a straight line run towards Patrick Collins’ goal. Lynch puts the handpass into Hegarty’s path and the big wing-forward doesn’t need to break stride as he takes four steps and smashes it into the net. 

2. Trademark chop for Morrissey point

Collins goes short with a puck-out to Niall O’Leary and he goes infield to Coleman. Sensing the danger, Lynch makes up good ground to get across and force a turnover on his man.

He executes a trademark chop on the turn to get the ball into his paw and has the awareness to find Tom Morrissey outside him. Another Limerick score from a Lynch intervention.

3. Assist for Hegarty 2.0

When Coleman was marking Lynch tight, the forward made his runs towards the flanks to create space down the middle. Shortly before the interval, Declan Hannon found Lynch near the touchline. 

Lynch had plenty of work to do as he spun away from Coleman and flicked up the sliotar despite the close attention of the Cork defender. Lynch had the awareness to spot Hegarty inside and managed to get a handpass away as he pirouetted.

Hegarty could hardly believe his luck. He raced through and dispatched low past Collins to take his personal tally to 2-2, with Lynch assisting both green flags.

4. Pass for Morrissey chance

He almost created a third goal in the 45th minute, winning back possession from Meade and feeding Tom Morrissey whose shot was superbly saved by Collins.

Limerick are 15 points up at this stage, but Lynch shows great hunger for work to force the turnover.

5. Over the shoulder score 

After slotting over his fourth point in the 66th minute, Lynch is brimming with confidence. Three minutes later, four Limerick players hunt Downey in a pack as Lynch lurks nearby.

O’Donovan scoops the ball to Lynch. Limerick’s main man takes a touch as he runs away from the traffic and executes an over the shoulder strike that sails between the posts. 

A second Hurler of the Year gong beckons for Lynch after another extraordinary individual campaign. At just 25, the frightening thing is he’s still getting better.

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