Mickey Ned hails historic Limerick victory

TWO of Munster football’s lesser lights convened in Croke Park on Saturday afternoon with a more seasoned and experienced Limerick outfit carrying off the honours in an excellent Allianz NFL Division 4 decider.

The pre-match romance swirled around the Waterford camp as they became the first football team from the county to set foot on the Croke Park sod for a final, but Limerick’s ultimate triumph was also heart-warming. Captain Seanie Buckley noted in his victory speech on the Hogan Stand podium that it had been over a century since a Limerick football team had grasped national silverware, and although this Limerick side dream of landing championship prizes in their provincial domain, this is still a success that they will cherish. Manager Mickey Ned O’Sullivan certainly reckoned afterwards that the win deserved proper attention: “It’s great for the football people of Limerick who have toiled for the last hundred years. It’s great recognition for the work that they’ve done at underage level and in the clubs.

“It’s good for the county board too, who have got a lot of stick but they’ve given us a lot of support and there hasn’t been any preferential treatment between hurling and football. It’s not a football county, but we could make it a football county.”

Recent Munster final losses have been harrowing affairs for Limerick, yet the familiarity with the big day experience that they accrued from those ties stood to them here. Trailing by two points with 11 minutes left, Limerick played smart and calm football in the closing stages, rattling off four points and successfully mastering the art of closing out a game.

Still, their closing scoring sequence was founded on an impulsive decision rather than a strategic, well-rehearsed plan. The unlikely figure of goalkeeper Brian Scanlon strode forward to land a brilliant ‘45 in the 70th minute that sent Limerick ahead 1-15 to 1-14 but his manager afterwards confessed that it was no masterstroke on his part.

“It wasn’t planned but it was a small bit of inspiration from Stephen Lavin, who was water boy today because he was injured. Brian is our U21 keeper and has only been in training for two weeks, but Stephen said he’d put it over and I said it was worth the chance. It was a great kick but we can’t take any credit, it was all Stephen.”

Waterford were left disconsolate at the final whistle yet that is a measure of how far they have progressed this spring. They were worthy competitors here and once they assuaged their early nerves, they produced some terrific passages of play. The concession of a fortuitous tenth minute goal when Ger Collins point effort looped into the net over goalkeeper Tom Wall was a blow that left them disconcerted for a time.

But they settled excellently before half-time, with a lightning six-point blast between the 24th and 33rd minutes hauling them back into contention. Tony Grey, Shane Briggs and Brian Wall spearheaded their play with great individual inputs and at the interval they were contending strongly as they trailed 1-8 to 0-10. By the 49th minute Waterford looked on the cusp of a milestone for the county when Liam O Lionáin struck a beautiful 20-yard drive to the net but managing to only score one more point after that goal was too great an impediment.

“It’s disappointing to lose as we were very much in it,” remarked Waterford manger John Owens. “Somebody said to me that it’s a bonus getting to Croke Park but there’s no bonus inside there, those boys are very disappointed. But everyone made a serious contribution to the team and it’s a privilege to be up here in Croke Park and that those guys got to play there.”

Limerick received a stern test of their credentials yet the manner in which they have embellished their personnel options this season greatly aided their drive for victory. Conor Mullane and James Ryan have strengthened their hand at opposite ends of the pitch, Eoghan O’Connor made an important contribution during his late cameo while the scoring exploits of Ger Collins and Ian Ryan – 1-11 between them – were dazzling.

“We found out against Cork in the Munster final last year that we didn’t have the bench to bring us through,” remarked Mickey Ned O’Sullivan. “We went away over the winter to look at that and we have a bench this year. Games are won in the last fifteen minutes when you get fresh legs on and they made the difference today. But we can’t lose the run of ourselves as the Munster semi-final is the game for us to focus on now.”

Scorers for Limerick: G Collins 1-6 (0-2f), I Ryan 0-5 (0-1f), P Ranahan, B Scanlon (0-1 ‘45), J O’Donovan, S Buckley, E O’Connor 0-1 each.

Waterford: B Wall 0-5 (3f), L O’Lionáin 1-1, W Hennessy, T Grey 0-2 each, N Hennessy, C McGrath, R Ahearne, P Hurney 0-1 each.

Subs for Limerick: S Gallagher for Carroll (half-time), S Kelly for J Mullane (52), E O’Connor for J Ryan (56), E Joy for Lane (inj) (66), C Fitzgerald for Joyce-Power (73).

Subs for Waterford: P Hurney for Ahearne (46), S Cunningham for W Hennessy (59), C Phelan for Connery (66), J Phelan for Prendergast (70), Michael O’Gorman for N Hennessy (70).

Referee: R O’Donnell (Donegal).