Na Scéilge cruise to victory over Limerick
That one player is Brian Sheehan, who was Kerry's minor goalkeeper in this year's All-Ireland semi-final, but on this occasion, he lined out at midfield and turned in a superb display as the champions experienced little difficulty in the opening defence of their title.
However, some gloss was taken off the victory by an injury to centre-back Colin Granfield, who broke his ankle while going for the ball and will be out of action for the rest of the season.
Team coach Jack O'Connor does not expect a hat-trick of titles, but there was much to admire about his team, which will not be beaten easily.
They had excellent players in full-back Colin O'Sullivan, wing-back Tadgh Lyne, and midfielders Brian Sheehan and Sean O'Shea, while in attack, Kevin O'Sullivan, Paul O'Connor and Rory Keating were impressive, the latter scoring 2-5, all from play.
This is the second year a combined team from Limerick colleges has taken part in the Corn Uí Mhuirí and like last season, they are finding the going extremely difficult.
Limerick could not be faulted for effort, and while they had a couple of players capable of holding their own, they were light years behind their opponents in the basics of catching, kicking, and blocking down.
David Gardiner, Oliver Nolan, William O'Shaughnessy, Ger Barry, Tommy Finucane, Barry O'Connell and Eric Moloney did their best, but Limerick were always chasing the game after the highly-talented Keating kicked the champions to a two-point lead inside the opening three minutes.
It was five points to one after 15 minutes, and after play was held up for the injury to Granfield, Keating banged in a brace of goals to give his side a commanding 2-9 to 0-1 half-time lead.
There was not quite the same urgency in Na Sceilge's play on the changeover, but Limerick could not capitalise, and at the end of the third quarter, the champions had added only three points to their half-time tally, Keating claiming two of them, while O'Connell added a second for the home side.
Limerick enjoyed their best spell after O'Connell's point, and after excellent movement from their half-back line, corner-back Bernard Dalton slipped home a fine goal to put respectability on the scoreboard for his side.
However, the Caherciveen lads picked up the pace whenever they needed and remained firmly camped in the Limerick half for the rest of the match, adding a goal and three points, O'Connor scoring 1-2 of that, to run out easy winners.
Scorers Na Sceilge: R. Keating 2-5; P. O'Connor 1-2; B. Sheehan 0-5 (0-2 frees); K. O'Sullivan 0-2 (0-1 free); S. O'Shea 0-1. Limerick Colleges: B. Dalton 1-0; N. Mulvihill (free), B. O'Connell (free) 0-1 each.
COLAISTE NA SCÉILGE: D. Corcoran; T. O'Sullivan, C. O'Sullivan, K. Young; T. Lyne, C. Granfield, D. Walsh; S. O'Shea, B. Sheehan; K. O'Sullivan, P. O'Connor, K. O'Leary; J. Curran, R. Keating, L. O'Sullivan. Subs: C. O'Sullivan for Granfield; M.P. O'Donoghue for O'Leary; M. O'Neill for Young; M. Galvin for Corcoran; D. O'Dwyer for T. O'Sullivan.
LIMERICK: M. Mulvanney; B. Dalton, D. Gardiner, O. Nolan; W. O'Shaughnessy, D. Hurley, G. Barry; T. Finucane, P. Nicholas; B. Meade, L. Costelloe, N. Mulvihill; B. O'Connell, E. Moloney, T. Barry. Subs: W. Mullane for Meade; D. O'Callaghan for Barry; B. Sheehan for Mullane; D. Keogh for Mulvihill.
Referee: B. Mullane (Glin).
Waterford IT 1-15
A SMASH-AND-GRAB goal in injury time from Galway's Richie Murray gave University of Limerick the perfect start to their Higher Education Hurling League programme with a win over Waterford IT at Limerick yesterday.
Murray scored a hat-trick of goals.
Scorers UL: R. Murray 3-2, D. Green 0-4, J. Ryan 1-0, B. Carroll 0-1. Waterford IT: R. Jacob 1-2, M. Jacob, D.Murray 0-4 each, S. Hennessy, B. Dowling (0-2 each), C. Phelan (0-1).
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