Cork produced a sensational second-half display and finished with seven points to spare against All-Ireland champions Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds, 1-26 to 1-19.

This was a must-win match for the defending provincial kingpins as they had lost their opener to Tipperary last weekend and it wasn’t looking great for them as they trailed at the break.

But, with the wind behind them in the second half and 31,274 in attendance, points from Luke Meade, Alan Cadogan and Patrick Horgan (2) saw John Meyler’s men move in front, 0-16 to 1-12.

Horgan’s 52nd-minute goal pushed the gap out to four, 1-18 to 1-14, and the Glen Rovers ace would finish as top scorer with 1-9 despite having an indifferent day in front of the posts by his own high standards, Seamus Harnedy and Daniel Kearney sharing eight points for the winners, while Aaron Gillane and Graeme Mulcahy hit 0-9 and 1-4 respectively for the losers.

Mulcahy’s goal was the difference between the sides at half time as the hosts led by 1-11 to 0-12. It was difficult to separate the reigning All-Ireland and Munster champions in the first 25 minutes as 16 points were evenly shared but the Liam MacCarthy Cup holders pulled clear when Mulcahy hit the net with a trademark finish from the tightest of angles to make it 1-8 to 0-8 with nine minutes left before the break.

Patrick Horgan celebrates his second-half goal for Cork against Limerick 

The Rebels hit back with a frankly ridiculous Horgan free from close to 90 metres, Harnedy (2) and Meade landing Rebel points after Mulcahy and Gillane pointed for John Kiely’s men, Tom Morrissey’s free closing the first-half scoring.

The teams were level four times inside the first nine minutes, Gillane's free cancelling out a point from the returning Cadogan before Mulcahy and Gillane (free) pushed the gap out to two for the first time. Horgan (free) and Kearney brought the Leesiders level.

In an exciting second half, it was the Rebel County who got on top as the double winners were outclassed in their first outing of the summer, visiting captain Eoin Cadogan named as Man of the Match, Cok's mean defence restricting Limerick to just two second-half scores from play.

Cork - A Nash; S O’Donoghue, E Cadogan, N O’Leary; R Downey, M Eillis, M Coleman; B Cooper, D Fitzgibbon (0-1); D Kearney (0-4), S Harnedy (0-4), L Meade (0-2); C Lehane (0-1), P Horgan (1-9, 0-6f), A Walsh. Subs: A Cadogan (0-3) for C Lehane, S McDonnell for S O’Donoghue, C Joyce for R Downey, S Kingston for L Meade, D Dalton (0-2) for A Walsh.

Limerick - N Quaid; S Finn, M Casey, R English; D Byrnes (0-2), D Hannon, D Morrissey; C Lynch, D O’Donovan; G Hegarty, K Hayes (0-1), T Morrissey (0-1); P Casey, A Gillane (0-9, 8f), G Mulcahy (1-4). Subs: S Flanagan for P Casey, S Dowling (0-2f) for G Hegarty, B Murphy for G Mulcahy, W O’Donoghue for D O’Donovan, D Dempsey for A Gillane.

Referee - P O’Dwyer.

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