Limerick have no answer as inspired Galway play up a storm

Limerick 1-09 Galway 0-17

Just a single point ahead after playing with a strong wind, they successfully absorbed a lot of pressure before dominating the last quarter. Limerick simply had no answer to it.

Interestingly, while Limerick boss Richie Bennis was prepared to admit that possibly his team felt at half-time that the game was there for the taking, Loughnane felt that “it could not have been more set up” for his side.

Back at the venue where he had some major wins with Clare, he was delighted that the margin was so low.

“Now the real test had come. We have a few months’ work done... did we have the character?’’ he commented. “The foundation of any team is character. If we don’t have that, we’re going nowhere. The one thing you can read into it is that when it was called for, ‘it was there’. That was the big bonus for us. There’s a lot of hype about Galway at the moment. We don’t know what our team is going to be yet, but at least the fellows we had out there today, especially in the second half, showed real character.’’

Bennis had every reason to be disappointed, not just about the outcome, but the way his team failed to achieve a similar level of consistency to what they showed in the win over Tipperary. “For some reason, we fell apart in the last quarter,’’ he commented.

With the playing surface in excellent condition despite heavy rain early in the morning, Galway made the running from the throw-in, clearly benefiting from the strong wind. Eugene Cloonan, back in favour as first-choice full-forward, was quick to settle and make his presence felt from play and free-taking, but early pressure didn’t yield too many scores. And they found themselves two points in arrears in the 11th minute when Limerick full-forward Sean O’Connor finished a long free from Brian Geary to the net.

Under growing pressure, Limerick showed a lot of resolve in defence, even though they were to miss the influence of wing-back Paudie O’Dwyer who had been outstanding against Tipperary. Denis Moloney was doing very well in his comeback game, and while he had the misfortune to go off injured, his direct replacement Maurice O’Brien did well once he had settled.

They were just about competing at midfield, where Richie Murray was to emerge as one of Galway’s most influential players, but they found it very hard to penetrate in defence. One reason was that they found it hard to get the ball to their inside players because of the wind, but, more importantly Galway were strong down the centre, with John Lee impressive at centre-back and effectively controlling Ollie Moran.

By the 25th minute Galway were two points clear, but some poor finishing prevented them from going further in front, with Ger Farragher missing four chances from play and frees and not impressing either in the centre or on the wing. Alan Kerins was the most productive of their half-forwards and after going to midfield following the substitution of David Tierney, he continued to do good work. At the break it was 0-8 to 1-4 for the Westerners.

With Loughnane bringing in Mark Kerins and Fergal Healy for the second half, Galway looked the more lively side in the early stages. Limerick had to replace Geary because of a thumb injury he picked up early in the game and while Mark Foley was an able deputy, he wasn’t able to contribute as much as the Monaleen man over the opening 35 minutes.

After six minutes Galway had added two points to their total and, but for a timely tackle by Stephen Lucey on Cloonan, Galway would have had a definite goal. Notably, they weren’t to score again for nearly a quarter of an hour — mainly because of some last-ditch clearances from the home backs, with Lucey having his best spell and Damien Reale also prominent.

And, during this spell, Limerick promised a recovery with the first of three points from O’Shaughnessy frees and a great score from O’Connor when he fielded a clearance from Foley. It meant that they were in front briefly, by a point in the 50th minute, but there were clear signs of them struggling in the half-forward line.

Both Mark Kerins and Fergal Healy made valuable contributions, but other than the good work of their backs, and the consistency of Alan Kerins and Murray at midfield, what was most praiseworthy was the clever play of Damien Hayes and especially Kevin Broderick in attack and the industry of Cloonan.

And, as Loughnane remarked in his post-match interview, his players showed a level of aggression in their play. The way he put it was that they “added it to their natural skill”.

Whatever comes in the future — and they will have Tipperary at home in their second next game — the formula worked on this occasion.

Diarmuid Kirwan’s refereeing was good for the greater part of the game, except that he could have been a bit stricter at times. He was lucky to be able to finish after getting struck accidentally by a hurley on the ankle in the last minute after awarding a throw-in.

Scorers: Galway — E. Cloonan 0-9 (0-5 frees, 0-1 ‘65); K. Broderick and D. Hayes 0-2 each; A. Kerins, F. Healy, N. Healy and R. Murray 0-1 each.

Limerick — S. O’Connor 1-1; A. O’Shaughnessy 0-3 frees; J. O’Brien 0-2; B. Geary (‘65), C. Fitzgerald and P. Tobin 0-1 each.

GALWAY: A. Ryan; D. Joyce, S. Kavanagh, T. Og Regan; D. Forde, J. Lee, D. Collins (capt.); I. Tannian, G. Farragher, A. Kerins; I. Tannian; D. Hayes, E. Cloonan, K. Broderick. Subs: N. Healy for Forde (30th minute); M. Kerins for Farragher and F. Healy for Tannian (second half); D. Hardiman for Regan (69th).

LIMERICK: B. Murray; D. Reale, S. Lucey, D. Moloney; M. O’Riordan, B. Geary, P. Lawlor; M. O’Brien, D. O’Grady; J.V. O’Brien (capt.), O. Moran, M. Fitzgerald; A. O’Shaughnessy, S. O’Connor, C. Fitzgerald. Subs: M. O’Brien for Moloney (injured, 21st minute); M. Foley for Geary (second half); N. Moran for O’Grady (43rd); B. Foley for M. Fitzgerald (55th); P. Tobin for C. Fitzgerald (65th).

Referee: D. Kirwan (Cork).

Attendance: 8,240.