AUDIO: Cork Under 21 Manager Reacts to Championship Defeat

The Cork Under 21 Hurlers suffered a seven point defeat to Limerick in their Munster Championship quarter final against Limerick on Tuesday night.

Tom Morrissey and Shane Kingston swapped points in the opening minutes of this game, but from there Limerick exerted their dominance and while the Rebels were relentless in their pursuit of another equaliser, they failed to get any closer than three points to the defending champions.

The visitors hit a further 1-6 in the opening eleven minutes to take a nine point lead, with eventual man of the match Ronan Lynch contributing 1-02 of that, including a clinical goal and a superb sideline cut.

Kingston continued to strike free's on target, while Conor Twomey's point from play at the start of the second quarter marked a turnaround for Damien Irwins side, followed by points from Niall Cashman, David Noonan, Anthony Spillane and the impressive Pa O'Callaghan.

By the short whistle, Limericks lead was cut to just 1-12 to 0-12.

However, following the resumption, Limerick (led by Lynch again) enjoyed the better of the exchanges and took a 1-17 to 0-13 lead. Again this young Cork side rallied to keep the contest alive, but late goals from the impressive young duo of Kingston and centre back Mark Coleman would still see the Rebels come up short.

Limerick substitute Oisin O'Reilly netted his second in injury time to close out the seven point win, which see's Limerick progress to a semi final against Tipperary on July 13th, while Cork's Championship campaign again comes to an end at the first hurdle.

Click PLAY below to hear the post match reaction of Cork Under 21 Manager Damien Irwin.

For more on this game tune in to The Big Red Bench with Ruairi O'Hagan and Lisa Lawlor on Saturday evening from 6pm.