Lethal Limerick storm to victory despite Tony Kelly brilliance

John Kiely on League win: “It’s still going to be Limerick 2019, Limerick 2020 and that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?”

Peter Casey of Limerick in action against Rory Hayes of Clare 

Munster SHC: LIMERICK 0-36 CLARE 1-23

It’s going to be a slow burner, we know that now.

Across opening weekend, the scores have rocketed in this Championship — Saturday’s Leinster SHC opener illustrated that too — and it may take some time before intensity matches that trajectory on the graph.

But there was enough on show here to indicate what we thought before the pandemic, that Limerick are the team to beat. Tony Kelly was supremo and soprano and yet he was drowned out by the cacophony of the opposition’s might.

After they had started the second half with the first six points, the game appeared to be up but for Kelly to claim a brace of points followed by Ryan Taylor’s 47th minute goal. However, that intervention only prompted the reigning Munster champions to play their instruments louder as they scored six of the next seven points. And when Clare had the audacity to put together a couple of points Limerick swallowed them with the next four, Gearóid Hegarty claiming two of them, to put themselves out of their neighbours’ reach.

But what can we say about Kelly? Not since Joe Canning’s 2-12 against Cork in a 2008 qualifier at this venue has there been a better losing individual performance than the one he provided here. His 17-point haul was deserving of much more but he could only bring Clare so far.

And that may have been in Limerick’s thinking a little - were they confident enough not to give him extra attention? Unlike other teams like Wexford or even this Clare team who dedicated Cathal Malone to marshal Cian Lynch, there was no man given the detail of tagging Kelly. He may not have been as effective in the second half when he scored five of his 17 points but he was still able to ghost from traffic to clip over scores.

Rather than address how Kelly tormented his team, John Kiely was more concerned with the collective effort of his team in the opening half. “At half-time, I would have been not best pleased really with the level of intensity we brought to the game, or even picking up breaking ball, use of the ball, we just weren’t on the money at that stage.

“And to be fair I would have been a bit concerned because give it 15-20 minutes, you’d expect yourself to hit a rhythm. But at that stage Clare were after bouncing back with three points. We had gone 15-12 up, we should have pushed on a bit more at that stage ourselves but it was the other way around we went.

“So at half-time I would have been a bit concerned about that but we said, ‘Listen, first game back, maybe we just need to give a little bit more time to see if we can get up to the rhythm of it.’ And we went out and we addressed those concerns we had. Our hurling was a lot crisper and sharper at that stage, our support runners were coming, we were putting balls through the hands very crisply and we were finding our men in the forwards with the ball in a bit of space.”

Level 0-15 apiece at half-time, Limerick arrived much later onto the field than Clare and then tore Clare asunder with six points, less than four minutes between a point from Graeme Mulcahy, becoming the last of the attack to score from play, and Tom Morrissey’s fourth.

Kelly’s consecutive wides from frees earlier in the second half took a bit of the wind out of his team’s sails although he did convert the game’s next two scores. And when Shane O’Donnell broke down a Malone pass into the path of Taylor to find the net Clare threatened a revival but the next goal chance fell to Mulcahy. From the resultant 65, Aaron Gillane split the posts and it was the first of five Limerick points in as many minutes.

With the second of a quickfire brace by Hegarty, Limerick hit the 30-point marker in the 63rd minute to widen the gap to six. Aron Shanagher had sight of goal two minutes later but was foiled and with that Clare’s fight was over, Limerick scoring another six points, half of them in additional time.

The sight of Declan Hannon lifting the Allianz Cup in the Ó Riain Stand then putting it down without a word and returning to the field said more about Limerick’s intent than any perceived slight on this game doubling up as the Division 1 final. An acceptance speech with Tipperary peering over the wall at them? Not. A. Chance.

Although, Kiely was actually delighted to defend the competition. “We went back mid-November and we worked very hard pre Christmas and got a good start in the league. We had a very good strong January, February, into early March. I am glad that we actually saw out the deal and took that league title. We spent nine years in 1B, languishing and blaming everything and anything bar the fact that we just couldn’t get out of there.

“We’ve always put a lot of stead on the league since we came together as a group and for us to win back-to-back titles is a significant achievement nonetheless regardless of the manner in which it finished. It’s still going to be Limerick 2019, Limerick 2020 and that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?”

And this is Championship. In anyone’s language.

The 60-second report

It mattered

Limerick scoring five of the next six scores after Ryan Taylor’s 47th-minute goal. Clare weren’t going to be given any more oxygen.

Can’t ignore

The enduring quality of Tony Kelly. Before the pandemic, he had looked back to his 2013 best and here he showed he had lost nothing of that magic and lustre in the past seven months.

Good day

We could be sickly sweet and say hurling given a Munster senior championship has commenced. Instead, we’ll say the Limerick full-back line who, makeshift as they were, did reasonably well.

Bad day

Clare’s wait for a provincial title goes into a 23rd year. They aren’t gone from this Championship by any means but the way they petered out of this encounter was disheartening.

Physio room

It remains to be seen if Richie English, who is close to a comeback, makes the 26-man matchday panel for Tipperary. Cian Lynch shipped a few knocks but was able to recover from them to carry on.

Sideline smarts

The decision by Brian Lohan to start Tony Kelly in the inside forward line was a clever one and he was a marvel floating between there and around the half-forward line. Limerick rightly played short against the wind in the first half and mixed it more up more in the second when they had that advantage.

Best on show

Kelly was breathtaking at times and on many other days he could have been the winning of the game for Clare. But this is Limerick who had performers everywhere from Gearóid Hegarty and Tom Morrissey in the half-forward line to Diarmaid Byrnes and Seán Finn in defence.

Man in the middle

So keen was Fergal Horgan to get going that he threw the ball in before Amhrán na bhFiann finished. That may have had something to do with the players being asked to take their positions for the National Anthem and the match official eager not to keep them waiting. Horgan had a solid game, calling out dangerous play and persistent fouling.

Next up

Limerick and Tipperary clash in a rerun of last year’s Munster final but this time in a provincial semi-final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday (4pm). Playing a week later, Clare join Laois in the first round of the qualifiers.

Scorers for Limerick: A Gillane (0-12, 9 frees, 1 65); G Hegarty (0-5); T Morrissey (0-4); P Casey, K Hayes, D Byrnes (0-3 each); G Mulcahy (0-2); C Lynch, D Hannon, S Flanagan, P Ryan (0-1 each).

Scorers for Clare: T Kelly (0-17, 9 frees); R Taylor (1-1); D Ryan, C Malone (0-2 each); S O’Halloran (0-1).

LIMERICK: N Quaid; S Finn, D Morrissey, B Nash; D Byrnes, D Hannon (c), P O’Loughlin; C Lynch, W O’Donoghue; G Hegarty, K Hayes, T Morrissey; A Gillane, P Casey, G Mulcahy.

Subs for Limerick: S Flanagan for G Mulcahy (blood, 32-34); D O’Donovan for T Morrissey (58); S Flanagan for P Casey (60); P Ryan for G Mulcahy, D Reidy for W O’Donoghue (both 64); J Boylan for B Nash (70+2).

CLARE: E Quilligan; J Browne, C Cleary, R Hayes; P O’Connor, S Morey, S O’Halloran; D McInerney (c), C Malone; D Ryan, D Reidy, D Fitzgerald; T Kelly, S O’Donnell, R Taylor.

Subs for Clare: A Shanagher for D Fitzgerald (h-t); A McCarthy for D Reidy (56); D McMahon for D McInerney (64); A Cunningham for R Taylor (70).

Referee: F Horgan (Tipperary).