Pat Ryan praises Cork's character after comeback win over Limerick

Pat Ryan praised the character of his Cork players after they produced a superb second-half rally to down All-Ireland champions Limerick in their Allianz Hurling League opener.

The Rebels trailed by eight points at the interval after a Limerick purple patch late in the half, coupled with some wasteful shooting from the hosts at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

But Ryan's side hit back after the restart and drew level with goals from Robbie O’Flynn and Declan Dalton, setting up a gripping final quarter.

Limerick led by two points in the sixth minute of injury-time but Cork again restored parity courtesy of Patrick Horgan and Conor Cahalane scores, before Shane Kingston popped with a dramatic winner at the death.

'We ask our fella to play with character, and they did that in the second half' - Cork manager Pat Ryan on how his team turned around their fortunes against Limerick pic.twitter.com/edGCl5uUJ2

"We played well enough in the first half [but] had a lot of wides," Cork manager Ryan told RTÉ Sport.

"Limerick got a run on us for the last six minutes, they’re a fantastic bunch of players who move the ball well. They got six great scores and put us under a lot of pressure going in at half-time.

"Our fellas, what we ask them to do is play with character and represent the jersey well, and they did that in the second half.

Shane Kingston wins it for Cork at the death to complete a Rebel comeback against Limerick on the opening weekend of the league