TIMEKEEPING SPARKED DEBATE in the aftermath and there were complaints during the action about frees awarded against his side, but Cork player Mark Coleman has no intention of pinning the blame for Sunday’s Munster final loss at referee James Owens.
Limerick’s late scoring charge propelled them to their latest hurling accomplishment and two days on, speaking in the familiar environment of his home club Blarney at yesterday’s All-Ireland hurling championship launch, Coleman spoke freely about how Cork met a superior force in the second half.
The ending was laced with drama and Coleman was in the thick of it. He received a short-range free from Patrick Collins and played it inside to Tim O’Mahony, who pulled the trigger to shoot from distance, with Owens blowing for full-time seconds later.
Coleman wasn’t aware it was the last play of the game and into the teeth of a strong wind, felt Cork had to work the ball closer to attempt to land the levelling point. But he holds no issue with Owens for not informing them either of what was left on the clock.
“Tim probably would have hit it (the free), only he got a bit of a knock. Then Pa came up to hit it. We obviously weren’t aware that it was the last puck of the game at the time.
“But with the wind that was there, Pa probably wouldn’t have had the distance for it so we were trying to just increase our probability of scoring by going short. Obviously if we’d have known it was the last puck of the game, we would have shot. But we weren’t aware at the time.
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“You just don’t know how long (a game will go on)… like, sometimes they play over a bit. But obviously it was the last puck of the game, so that was it.”
Tim O'Mahony shoots for the posts as the full-time whistle is blown. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
Would a referee normally tell players in that scenario how much is left?
“The honest answer is I don’t know. I just said to James Owens afterwards that I wasn’t aware it was the last puck of the game, and he said it’s not up to him to be telling you it’s the last puck of the game.
“To be fair, I must say the last day that I had a few conversations with him during the game. He was fine the last day. But it’s not up to him to be talking to players really.
“Some refs have their own style, but I have no issue with James Owens at all. I think if you were to go by the letter of the law, he probably had a good game. I’m not going to sit here blaming James Owens for anything.
“I think he’s probably right. It’s probably not up to him to tell me that this has to be the last puck of the game. He blows the whistle when he feels the time is up and that’s it.
“We just have to just accept that we were beaten by a better team. You have to be scoring a bit more to be beating Limerick especially. Obviously it was difficult conditions, but you still want to be getting a few more scores on the board.”
James Owens with Cork players after the final whistle. Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
Coleman’s calm and measured style is reflected in his post-match analysis. From his wing-back berth, he was part of the Cork defence playing against a wind in the second half, the complicated the already sizeable task in breaking down Limerick’s formidable defence.
“When you’re playing into a wind like that, you’re very limited in the range of puck-outs you can hit, especially with the way Limerick set up. Their half-back line are very good at setting up and covering space. You’re just nearly forced to puck it down on top and trying to overload one side.
“When the wind is that strong, you’re not going to be able to spray it into space because they’re going to have their half-forwards cutting it out, and they’re going to have their wing-backs set up well to deal with that.
“They’re obviously so strong in that area of the pitch, they were able to force us long and get their good players under it. I’m not sure of the stats but I think we did win a good few as well. It wasn’t like we were cleaned out on the long puck-outs. We probably just didn’t do enough when we did get the ball, we probably had a few chances that we missed as well.”
The match continued the recent theme of Limerick-Cork championship meetings. The 2025 round-robin game where Limerick routed Cork by 16 points stands in isolation. Across six other games between May 2023 and June 2026, the winning margin has consistently been one or two points, along with the penalty shootout success Cork enjoyed last summer.
“I don’t know if it’s a rivalry, to be honest, I think that’s probably a media thing,” reflects Coleman.
“We have no hatred towards Limerick or anything like that. I think we’re just pretty evenly-matched teams. They’ve obviously been the best team in the country over the last ten years, and we’ve put a lot of work into trying to get up to that level.
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“It probably took us a while to physically get up to their level. Even watching back old games, you see fellas’ body shape has changed so much to be able to compete with them. That’s probably why we’ve gotten a bit closer over the last few years.”
Cork won’t digest the defeat for long, they have an assignment in 11 days in the form of a rapidly improving Offaly at the quarter-final stage.
“We don’t have much time to be dwelling on it now. It’s straight back into training and getting ready for the quarter-final. I haven’t watched it back yet but just off my own thoughts, we probably just didn’t do enough in the second half to get over the line. Ultimately the better team won.”
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Mark Coleman: 'I'm not going to sit here blaming James Owens for anything'
TIMEKEEPING SPARKED DEBATE in the aftermath and there were complaints during the action about frees awarded against his side, but Cork player Mark Coleman has no intention of pinning the blame for Sunday’s Munster final loss at referee James Owens.
Limerick’s late scoring charge propelled them to their latest hurling accomplishment and two days on, speaking in the familiar environment of his home club Blarney at yesterday’s All-Ireland hurling championship launch, Coleman spoke freely about how Cork met a superior force in the second half.
The ending was laced with drama and Coleman was in the thick of it. He received a short-range free from Patrick Collins and played it inside to Tim O’Mahony, who pulled the trigger to shoot from distance, with Owens blowing for full-time seconds later.
Coleman wasn’t aware it was the last play of the game and into the teeth of a strong wind, felt Cork had to work the ball closer to attempt to land the levelling point. But he holds no issue with Owens for not informing them either of what was left on the clock.
“Tim probably would have hit it (the free), only he got a bit of a knock. Then Pa came up to hit it. We obviously weren’t aware that it was the last puck of the game at the time.
“But with the wind that was there, Pa probably wouldn’t have had the distance for it so we were trying to just increase our probability of scoring by going short. Obviously if we’d have known it was the last puck of the game, we would have shot. But we weren’t aware at the time.
“You just don’t know how long (a game will go on)… like, sometimes they play over a bit. But obviously it was the last puck of the game, so that was it.”
Would a referee normally tell players in that scenario how much is left?
“The honest answer is I don’t know. I just said to James Owens afterwards that I wasn’t aware it was the last puck of the game, and he said it’s not up to him to be telling you it’s the last puck of the game.
“To be fair, I must say the last day that I had a few conversations with him during the game. He was fine the last day. But it’s not up to him to be talking to players really.
“Some refs have their own style, but I have no issue with James Owens at all. I think if you were to go by the letter of the law, he probably had a good game. I’m not going to sit here blaming James Owens for anything.
“I think he’s probably right. It’s probably not up to him to tell me that this has to be the last puck of the game. He blows the whistle when he feels the time is up and that’s it.
“We just have to just accept that we were beaten by a better team. You have to be scoring a bit more to be beating Limerick especially. Obviously it was difficult conditions, but you still want to be getting a few more scores on the board.”
Coleman’s calm and measured style is reflected in his post-match analysis. From his wing-back berth, he was part of the Cork defence playing against a wind in the second half, the complicated the already sizeable task in breaking down Limerick’s formidable defence.
“When you’re playing into a wind like that, you’re very limited in the range of puck-outs you can hit, especially with the way Limerick set up. Their half-back line are very good at setting up and covering space. You’re just nearly forced to puck it down on top and trying to overload one side.
“When the wind is that strong, you’re not going to be able to spray it into space because they’re going to have their half-forwards cutting it out, and they’re going to have their wing-backs set up well to deal with that.
“They’re obviously so strong in that area of the pitch, they were able to force us long and get their good players under it. I’m not sure of the stats but I think we did win a good few as well. It wasn’t like we were cleaned out on the long puck-outs. We probably just didn’t do enough when we did get the ball, we probably had a few chances that we missed as well.”
The match continued the recent theme of Limerick-Cork championship meetings. The 2025 round-robin game where Limerick routed Cork by 16 points stands in isolation. Across six other games between May 2023 and June 2026, the winning margin has consistently been one or two points, along with the penalty shootout success Cork enjoyed last summer.
“I don’t know if it’s a rivalry, to be honest, I think that’s probably a media thing,” reflects Coleman.
“We have no hatred towards Limerick or anything like that. I think we’re just pretty evenly-matched teams. They’ve obviously been the best team in the country over the last ten years, and we’ve put a lot of work into trying to get up to that level.
“It probably took us a while to physically get up to their level. Even watching back old games, you see fellas’ body shape has changed so much to be able to compete with them. That’s probably why we’ve gotten a bit closer over the last few years.”
Cork won’t digest the defeat for long, they have an assignment in 11 days in the form of a rapidly improving Offaly at the quarter-final stage.
“We don’t have much time to be dwelling on it now. It’s straight back into training and getting ready for the quarter-final. I haven’t watched it back yet but just off my own thoughts, we probably just didn’t do enough in the second half to get over the line. Ultimately the better team won.”
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