Cork finished both halves strongly but holders Limerick deservedly prevailed by 3-19 to 2-15 at Pairc Ui Rinn tonight.

Reigning All-Ireland and Munster champions, John Kiely's charges were never behind but had to dig deep as their opponents twice threatened to reel them in.

Ultimately, a fantastic haul of 1-8 from Man of the Match Ronan Lynch and two goals from substitute Oisin O'Reilly saw the visitors through to a semi-final meeting with Tipperary on July 13th, while last-gasp majors from Shane Kingston and Mark Coleman counted for nothing as the Rebels went down fighting but never looked like winning.

It looked like a turkey shoot on the banks of the Lee when Limerick tore into a nine-point lead with just a quarter of the game played but, with the slight breeze behind them, the Rebels staged a superb revival to go in within touching distance at the break, 1-12 to 0-12, the mercurial Ronan Lynch drilling home the winners' first-half goal.

The holders got off to a dream start and Lynch's delightfully-struck sideline cut fired them into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead inside six minutes. Lynch then tagged on a simple free and the match was over as a contest on nine minutes when he collected a handpass from Barry Nash and planted his shot past Patrick Collins to the Cork net: 1-6 to 0-1.

Without so much as a glance at the posts, Nash flashed over a point from midfield; Kingston replied with his second pointed free for the shellshocked Rebels. Tim Morrissey had opened the scoring before Kingston replied and a trio of Pat Ryan points propelled the scintillating visitors into a lead that they would not relinquish.

Lynch's third point came from a free to leave nine between them at the midway stage in the first half but Cork rallied with scores from wing back Conor Twomey and midfielder Niall Cashman. Limerick's reply was a nonchalant score from Nash - one of ten 2015 All-Ireland winners in their starting XV tonight.

Kingston and Pa O'Callaghan grabbed a brace apiece as the roused Rebels landed four successive points to halve the deficit. Peter Casey stemmed the tide momentarily but Leeside midfielder David Noonan and corner forward Anthony Spillane continued the remarkable fightback as the men in red closed within three points with as many minutes left before the short whistle, 1-10 to 0-10.

O'Callaghan's third stunning point from play cancelled out a Lynch free from in front of the posts. In stoppage time at the end of the first half, Kingston stroked over a Cork free before Cian Lynch hit back with a precious Treaty score.

Ronan Lynch extended his tally to 1-6 to double the difference by the 34th minute with a brace of pointed frees either side of a Darragh O'Donovan point. Cian Lynch made it 1-16 to 0-12 after 36 minutes and Ronan Lynch whacked over a long-range free on 40 minutes to leave eight between them again.

The Rebels rallied again but had a series of wides and dropped a couple of efforts short before Kingston mustered their first score of the second half in the 44th minute. But Lynch replied from a free and, after some sterling defensive work from Richie English and his colleagues, substitute O'Reilly sprinted through the Cork defence with one thing on his mind and duly thumped a missile to the right corner of the net - 2018 to 0-13 after 51 minutes.

Coleman's brace (one '65', one free) was too little too late for the home team, as were Kingston's brilliant strike to the roof of the Limerick net with two minutes left to play and Coleman's rocket to the top-right corner with 30 seconds remaining…

Three tense minutes of injury time were added and O'Reilly nipped in for his second goal right at the death as the holders survived a mini scare to book their place in the last four.

Limerick - E McNamara; S Flanagan, R English, M Casey; C Ryan, R Lynch (1-8, 0-6f, 0-1sl, 0-1'65), A La Touche Cosgrave; D O'Donovan (0-2), P Ryan (0-3); C Lynch (0-2), B Nash (0-2), D Dempsey; P Casey (0-1), T Morrissey (0-1), A Gillane. Subs: B Murphy for A Gillane, O O'Reilly (2-0) for T Morrissey, L Lyons for B Nash, J Quaid for D Dempsey.

Cork - P Collins; D Browne, S O'Donoghue, D Griffin; R Cahalane, M Coleman (1-2), C Twomey (0-1); N Cashman (0-1), D Noonan (0-1); D Fitzgibbon, S Kingston (1-6, 0-5f), P O'Callaghan (0-3); L Meade, T O'Mahony, A Spillane (0-1). Subs: D Lee for N Cashman, C O'Leary for D Noonan, M O'Halloran for T O'Mahony, C Cormack for L Meade, M O'Connor for D Lee.

Referee - R McGann.

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