Limerick in comfort zone despite shaky defence
After a lacklustre first half, Limerick rattled off 1-3 in the five minutes after the restart to put their opponents firmly in the rear-view mirror, and though Wexford got a late, late goal from Rory Jacob, they never really got to grips with their hosts in the second half.
The game was over as a contest long before the end, with the large home contingent of supporters in the crowd of 16,500 cheering their side’s scores to the echo.
Limerick boss Donal O’Grady pinpointed that early second-half goal as the turning point in the game.
“The first minute (of the second half), to stick a ball in the back of the net gave us that little bit of a cushion.
“We played a bit better in the second half. The view that you’d have from the sideline isn’t the view that ye would (have) up in the stand. But I was happy enough that we kept pegging away.”
The game began 10 minutes late owing to a surprising late surge of patrons flowing down the Ennis Road to the game which clearly took the authorities by surprise. Both sides took time to settle, clearly put off by the delay.
They swapped points early on, with Donal O’Grady — the player — prominent for Limerick and Eoin Quigley excelling for Wexford. Ominously for the visitors, youngsters Declan Hannon and Kevin Downes pushed Limerick two ahead by the 22nd minute, and they led by four before the game’s first goal — a scrambled effort by Wexford’s Quigley on 30 minutes.
The impressive Hannon and Niall Moran — Hannon’s teacher and coach in Ardscoil Rís — helped Limerick stay two up at the break, 1-8 to 0-9, but on the resumption the men in green and white took over.
Mulcahy blasted home from close range, then Tobin, Mulcahy and Hannon again added points before PJ Nolan could respond for the Leinster side.
There were only six points in it when Rory Jacob had a goal chance on 48 minutes, and a green flag then might have revived their chances, but Nicky Quaid saved well and Wexford’s self-belief deflated as Limerick cleared the ball down the field. It got worse when Wexford corner-back Paul Roche got a straight red card on 59 minutes for an off-the-ball altercation with Mulcahy, and although Jacob goaled in injury time, Limerick were comfortable winners.
Afterwards, Wexford boss Colm Bonnar said that the goal after half time was a pivotal moment.
“It was a ball that should have been cleared, there didn’t seem to be anything on, but they pounced on a mistake and hit us for 1-3 in the first four or five minutes.
“We got ourselves back into it but the turning point was when Rory was through with about six points between the sides and he was blocked.
“Small things change games and when it was blocked they went down and scored. Instead of being back to three it was back out to seven and then we had a man sent off.”
His opposite number, ever the perfectionist, was unhappy with conceding a late goal but satisfied with the result.
“The disappointing thing was that we conceded two goals which were maybe avoidable,” said O’Grady.
“But having said that, Wexford are good, tough battlers and they never gave up. Some of our wides in the first half were avoidable. We’ll have to try and cut down on that because every time you hit the ball out of play, you’re only handing the goalkeeper a 95-yard clearance and the opposition an attack. In the last 10 minutes, we were comfortable enough but we let them back in for another goal. The main thing in the qualifiers is to win it — I wouldn’t be that worried about the quality of the game.”
O’Grady will be happy enough that his side put 1-23 on the scoreboard, however, and it was clear that Declan Hannon adds balance and another scoring threat to Limerick.
At the other end of the field Seamus Hickey was significantly better at full-back than he was against Waterford, even if the quality of the opposition wasn’t at the same standard as the Munster semi-final. That opposition still got in for two goals, so the Limerick defence can expect some close attention from their coach over the next few days.
Still, Limerick roll on. Another day, another championship outing. If they play with the purpose and crispness they showed in the second half on Saturday evening, they won’t fear anyone.
Scorers for Limerick: D Hannon 0-9 (4f, 1 sl); G Mulcahy 1-4; N Moran 0-3; D O’Grady 0-2; J Ryan, K Downes, M O’Riordan, T O’Brien 0-1 each.
Scorers for Wexford: R Jacob, E Quigley (1f) 1-2 each; G Sinnott 0-3; PJ Nolan 0-2; K Rossiter, H Kehoe, E Martin, D Reynolds 0-1 each.
Subs for Limerick: S Walsh for Moloney (blood) 12-17; M O’Riordan for Browne (44), S Walsh for Condon (50), T O’Brien for Downes (57), D Ryan for Mulcahy (65).
Subs for Wexford: C Farrell for Travers (47), D Redmond for Quigley (55), B Doyle for Berry (59), E Martin for Kehoe (66).
Referee: Michael Wadding (Waterford).
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