Limerick click into overdrive to hand Offaly reality check
After the contest their manager, Kevin Martin, spoke about how the rising levels of expectation in the county weren’t well handled by his team.
“People around the county were up on a high after last week” said the former All-Star defender. “It does filter down to the players, it can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing, it was obviously a bad thing for us today.”
4,640 supporters filed into the Tullamore venue and for the first 20 minutes, it looked as if they were in for a rip-roaring tie. Scores from play were rare but the physicality of the exchanges in the middle third was of the highest order, as both sides produced great intensity.
Limerick led by the odd score in nine when Offaly were handed a glorious opportunity after 17 minutes. Shane Kinsella drove at the Limerick goal and when he was deemed to have been pulled down, referee Sean Cleere awarded a penalty.
Damien Egan’s effort flew wide of the post, however, and while Tommy Geraghty equalised for Offaly with the next score, from then on Limerick took complete control.
“It was very physical for the first 20, 25 minutes and the game was in the melting pot at that stage. But I think we managed to impose ourselves on the game in that 10 or 15 minute period before half-time, we got five points of a gap and that was key to it,” said Limerick manager John Kiely. “We were able to keep them at arm’s length and then pushed on in the finish.”
The Treaty men carried their momentum into the second half and their lead was out to seven points when Dermot Shortt was pulled up for a third man tackle and shown a second yellow card just eight minutes after the restart.
Aaron Gillane picked off the game’s only goal midway through the period and from then on Limerick were able to coast home and win by a comfortable margin, albeit aided by Offaly’s woeful inaccuracy as they finished with 15 wides.
With a plethora of injured stars and the Na Piarsaigh contingent still waiting in the wings, Kiely was understandably delighted with the result, and with how his panel is shaping up.
“Declan Hannon was togged today, he could have played but I was happy to leave him another two weeks to get him ready for the next day out, and he’ll have to fight to get his place on the team now.
“Could you pick out anyone in defence there today that you wouldn’t be happy with?”
Meanwhile he said Kyle Hayes “is probably only about two weeks away” from a return for the county. “We’re aiming towards the Dublin game but it’ll take as long as it takes, he won’t play unless he’s right, and that’s the same for all of them.”
D Egan 0-6 (0-4f), D Currams, T Geraghty, S Kinsella & C Gath 0-1 each.
A Gillane 1-8 (0-7f), D O’Donovan (0-1f) & P Browne 0-3 each, D Byrnes, G Hegarty & T Morrissey 0-2 each, C Lynch, S Flanagan, D Reidy & O O’Reilly 0-1 each
C Slevin; T Spain, S Gardiner, B Conneely; D O’Toole, P Camon, D Shortt; S Kinsella, D King; D Egan, C Egan, D Currams; O Kelly, C Mahon, T Geraghty.
S Dooley for Geraghty (HT), C Kiely for King (46), P Rigney for Mahon (57), C Gath for Kelly (61), C Cleary for C Egan (61)
N Quaid; S Finn, S Hickey, R English; D Byrnes, D Morrissey, P O’Loughlin; P Browne, C Lynch; T Morrissey, D O’Donovan, B O’Connell; G Hegarty, S Flanagan, A Gillane.
B Murphy for O’Connell (53), D Reidy for T Morrissey (57), O O’Reilly for Hegarty (63), A LaTouche Cosgrove for Lynch (63), L Lyons for Gillane (67)
Sean Cleere (Kilkenny)
