Limerick edge brave Exiles
Oh, if only they had started Mark Gottsche; oh, if only they hadn’t paid Limerick far too much respect in the opening quarter, opted to park the bus across the defence and invite their hosts onto them.
Galway native Gottsche was named to start in midfield but didn’t appear until the 24th minute, by which time Limerick already held a commanding lead, 0-8 to 0-1 — outstanding corner-forward Ian Ryan with three of those.
Then Gottsche was sprung. Within minutes he had scored and from there to the break, by five points to three the visitors outscored a Limerick side looking increasingly out-of-sorts.
Still, however, on a day when the sun was again splitting the rocks, just a wisp of a cooling breeze, five points was a decent half-time lead (0-11 to 0-6) and the feeling was that London had merely picked up a little momentum, that Limerick would again lay down the law when proceedings resumed. Wrong feeling.
Eleven minutes into the second half, and this game had been turned on its head. Gottsche was again centrally involved but it was another Galwegian, centre-forward Damien Dunleavy, setting the Gaelic Grounds ablaze with 1-2 of an unanswered 1-4 for London, which gave the visitors a two-point lead. The points were classics, two long-rangers curling inside the posts; the goal was vintage, an old-fashioned perfectly floated sideline to the edge of the Limerick square by Gottsche, Limerick defence caught napping, a fist by Dunleavy.
Limerick were now very much in trouble, and with the flying Donncha McCarthy and determined Seamus Hannon driving them on from the back, midfielder Martin Carroll popping up all over the place and making several crucial interceptions, Lorcan Mulvey, Eoin O’Neill and Seán Kelly (late sub) also asking questions of the Limerick defence, it was time for the home side to step up their game.
They did so, eventually, veteran Ryan doing the needful up front, youngster Gearoid Hegarty with the goal, keeper Brian Scanlon with the second of two long-range pointed frees. But it was a close-run thing, would surely have been closer had Gottsche played from the start. No regrets on that score, however, from London manager Paul Coggins. “Mark has been caught with injury for the last 10 days, did well when he came on but he had the adrenaline flowing. Should he have started? No regrets — we don’t have regrets. We came very close but probably gave ourselves too much to do after that start but by God, they worked — I think it was the best performance ever from that team. It could have gone our way but Limerick showed that little bit more in the last five minutes, other than that…”
And so he was left to rue what might have been.
Ruminating on what might have been was Limerick manager John Brudair, relieved also that it hadn’t come to pass. “We were in a position where we were comfortable after 25 minutes and we just took the foot off the pedal which left them back into it. The points they got before half-time gave them the encouragement to keep going; if we had gone in nine or 10 points up, it would probably have been curtains for them. But London have a good team. They have several very talented players, lads who have been on county panels at home and you have to respect that. When they sniffed the opportunity they went for us, they had a 10-minute period of the second half of dominance, helped by bad passes by us. When we settled down and started nailing those, we got control again — when the old lads get their hands on the ball, they generally do the right thing with it and that takes the pressure off ourselves. Johnny McCarthy won two handy frees at the finish to round out the game — you have to earn that experience. For several of those lads, though, it was their first championship win with Limerick ever, at any level, and that’s a positive.
On now to the next round, two weeks, a team from Division 3 or Division four from the league so it gives us another opportunity.”
The 39th minute goal for London by the impressive Damian Dunleavy, capped a super second half start for them and really made a game of this, put the Exiles ahead for the first time (1-9 to 0-11).
The challenge put up by London, terrific showing yet again for the most challenged ‘county’ unit in the mainstream championship.
16th minute, referee Padraig O’Sullivan comes to the sideline to consult with his linesman — and borrow his yellow card! Seems Padraig forgot his own...
Has to go to Limerick corner-forward Ian Ryan, outstanding yet again in every facet of play, not least his finishing. Laid off the pass for the goal also.
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London tactics initially were far too conservative; Limerick’s John Brudair reacted smartly to his team’s travails and his substitutions all had an impact, none more so than young goalscorer Gearóid Hegarty.
Padraig O’Sullivan (Kerry) had a solid outing in a game that was played in an excellent spirit throughout.
Round two of the qualifiers for Limerick in two weeks time, end of the season for London.
Scorers for Limerick: I Ryan 0-8 (3f); G Hegarty 1-0; B Scanlon 0-2 (2f); G Collins 0-2; K Phair 0-2; J Galvin, D Neville, 0-1 each.
Scorers for London: D Dunleavy 1-4; J Feeney 0-2; L Mulvey 0-2 (1f); A Faherty (f), M Miskelly, M Gottsche, E O’Neill, T Gaughan, 0-1 each.
LIMERICK: B Scanlon; S O’Dea, J McCarthy, M O’Riordan; I Corbett, P Browne, P Ranahan; T Lee, J Galvin; S Buckley (c), G Collins, D Treacy; I Ryan, K Phair, D Neville.
Subs: G Hegarty for Buckley (inj 15); M Brosnan for Treacy (43); E Hanrahan for Phair (48); S Lucey for Corbett (53); J Riordan for Lee (58).
LONDON: A Faherty; P Butler, S Curran, D McCarthy; S Hannon, B Collins, S Mulligan; A Bradley, M Carroll; G Crowley, D Dunleavy, L Mulvey; M Miskelly, T Gaughan, J Feeney.
Subs: M Gottsche for Collins (24); E O’Neill for Miskelly (44); B Mitchell for Feeney (55); S Kelly for Bradley (62); C O’Neill for Crowley (69).
Referee: P O’Sullivan (Kerry).
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