Gavin and Horan get Monaleen off to flier
Fr Casey’s sensed they were in for a battle after just 15 seconds when former Mayo player and current Limerick panelist Maurice Horan was teed up by Brian Geary for a cracking goal from the edge of the square.
With Gavin slotting over the points, they headed Fr Casey’s 1-6 to 0-5 at the interval.
Their form dropped afterwards and Fr Casey’s threatened to make a contest of it when John Lenihan, Dave Prendeville and Paud O’Donnell cut the deficit to a point. However, Casey’s heads dropped again when Gavin had four points on the trot and that was the end of their challenge
Monaleen withdrew Owen Keating early in the first-half when he suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury.
While the winners played some attractive football they will be concerned that it was left to Gavin and Horan to notch all but one point of their scores.
: Monaleen: M. Gavin 0-9, M. Horan 1-3, O. Keating 0-1. Fr Casey’s: P. O’Donnell 0-3, J. Weir, D. Collins 0-2 each, D. Prendeville, J. Lenihan 0-1 each.
: P. O'Halloran; D. Burke, J. Cormican, B. Fitzpatrick, F. Melody, J. Marsh, F. Nash; B. Geary, A. McEntee; M. Horan, A. Kitson, M. Houlihan, O. Keating, J. O'Brien, M. Gavin. Sub. M. Cummins for Keating.
: P. Curtin; S. Lenihan, C. McCarthy, M. O'Connor, S. Murphy, K. O'Connor, G. O'Connor; P. Browne, T. Cahill; D. Fitzgerald, P. Fitzgerald, P. O'Donnell, J. Weir, J. Lenihan, D. Collins. Sub. D. Prendeville for Collins.
: M. Meade (Ballylanders).
CONOR FITZGERALD, who has not played competitive football for six months, put himself back in the frame for a place in Limerick’s championship squad with a six points haul in Adare’s first round win over Gerald Griffins.
Griffins, taking their inspiration from Eoin Curtin, had the better of the opening half and led 0-5 to 0-2.
But Adare got their act together afterwards and, with Fitzgerald, Paul Griffin and Peter Lavin on target, took control, despite being reduced to 14 men towards the end.
: Adare: C. Fitzgerald 0-6, P. Griffin, D. Lavin, P. Lavin 0-2 each. Gerald Griffins: E.Curtin 0-6, P. Mullane 0-2, S. O'Connor 0-1.
BALLYLANDERS, favoured to make a strong impact in the championship, showed mixed form in getting the better of 14-man Hospital-Herbertstown, at Bruff.
In the opening five minutes, Stephen Fox (Ballylanders) and Colm Hickey shared four points, but the winners stepped up a couple of gears and, with Stephen Fox claiming four points, went on to lead 0-9 to 0-5 at the break.
Hospital-Herbertstown appeared to have blown their chance after they had a player dismissed coming up to the break. To their credit, they kept going and had narrowed the gap to two points, when they squandered a penalty.
With time running out Bob Fenton found the net for them, but at that stage Stephen Fox and Johnny Murphy had secured victory for Ballylanders.
: Ballylanders; S. Fox 0-10, J. Murphy 0-2, JB Murphy, M. Walsh, T. Fox, P. Fox, M. Mansell, E. English 0-1 each. Hospital-Herbertstown: B. Fenton 1-3, C. Hickey 0-4, PJ Garvey 0-2, M. Burke 0-1.
Minister for Sport John O’Donoghue will officially open the €12m redeveloped Gaelic Grounds this evening.
The Limerick footballers will play Cork in the opening game at 5pm, followed by Kilkenny and Limerick in hurling.
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