Kiely pleased to get minutes into 'very important' Limerick trio

One of the biggest cheers of the afternoon came when Aaron Gillane was introduced in the 63rd minute.

Mon, 13 Mar, 2023 - 07:33

Gerry Buckley

Limerick 1-27 Westmeath 1-15

Limerick were not flattered by their 12-point winning margin against a gallant Westmeath side in Mullingar on Sunday afternoon.

Westmeath sportingly gave the visitors a guard of honour on to the pitch. The Lake County had the aid of a very useful wind in the first half but they seldom threatened the Limerick rearguard.

Their attacking prowess was greatly reduced before a ball was pucked by the absence of All Star nominee Killian Doyle. He was replaced, ironically, by his twin Ciaran. John Kiely fielded roughly half of his likely championship team and they dominated right from the first whistle.

They had three points on the board in the opening five minutes via Diarmaid Byrnes (a monster free), Tom Morrissey (who replaced Gearóid Hegarty from the selected team) and Peter Casey. They led 0-4 to 0-1 when Conor Boylan found the net in the 12th minute after fine approach work by Casey.

Within a minute, Noel Conaty did well to keep out a Seamus Flanagan rasper, with Boylan firing the sliotar wide from the rebound. In Killian Doyle’s absence, Jack Gillen was on free-taking duty for Joe Fortune’s troops, but he only managed one successful strike from a number of scoreable placed balls in the first half.

The home team had the gap down to six points (1-8 to 0-5) by the 25th minute, but the Liam MacCarthy Cup holders fired over six more points by the interval, including two each from Morrissey and the outstanding Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, to lead from 1-14 to 0-5 at half-time.

On the change of ends, sub Niall O’Brien and Morrissey traded points from early frees. The Treaty men added three more points in the ensuing five minutes, but they were denied a second goal when Conaty saved from skipper William O’Donoghue in the 39th minute.

Conaty again did well from a Casey shot at the expense of a ‘65’ which Byrnes converted. Without having to overly exert themselves, Limerick kept the scoreboard ticking over but they were dealt a blow just past the hour mark when Colin Coughlan was black-carded after a foul on Westmeath sub Eoin Keyes. O’Brien superbly dispatched the resultant penalty past Jamie Power.

This gave the home team a lift and they gave as good as they got in the closing stages. One of the biggest cheers of the afternoon came when Aaron Gillane was introduced in the 63rd minute and the Patrickswell star did not disappoint, scoring a delightful point near the end.

Keyes almost doubled Westmeath’s goal tally in the dying moments, Power doing well to deflect the ball out for a ‘65’ which O’Brien - whose introduction greatly improved the Westmeath attack - converted.

After the game, Kiely opined: “Our first half was very strong and we were in control of the game. Our pattern of play was very good and defensively we were very sound. We started the second very well, but a lot of credit has to go to Westmeath for their second half performance. Their tackling was through the roof. It was very pleasing to get Mike (Casey), Diarmaid (Byrnes) and Aaron (Gillane) back today. They are very important members of our group.”

His opposite number was pleased with the spirit shown by the losers in the second half.

Fortune stated: “Maybe we stood off them too much in the first half, almost in admiration of what Limerick were trying to do. But we spoke at half-time that it was important we didn’t let the Westmeath people down. I am happy with the second half when our distribution was much better. We were missing five players who started every game for me last year, but from about the 36th minute to the 70th we showed what Westmeath are about.”

Scorers for Limerick: T Morrissey 0-9 (four frees), D Ó Dálaigh 0-5, P Casey 0-3, C Boylan 1-0, D Byrnes (one free, one ‘65’), C O’Neill, S Flanagan 0-2 each, B Murphy, W O’Donoghue, A Gillane, A O’Connor (free) 0-1 each.

Scorers for Westmeath: N O’Brien 1-6 (1-0 pen, five frees, one ‘65’), K Regan 0-2, T Doyle, R Greville, S McGovern, J Boyle, J Gillen (free), C Doyle, D Clinton (s/l) 0-1 each.

Limerick: J Power; F O’Connor, D Morrissey, B Nash; D Byrnes, R Connolly, C Coughlan; B Murphy, W O’Donoghue; T Morrissey, C O’Neill, C Boylan; D Ó Dálaigh, S Flanagan, P Casey.

Subs: D O’Donovan for Murphy (blood, 31 to 39), M Casey for D Morrissey (52), O O’Reilly for Ó Dálaigh (52), M Quinlan for Byrnes (56), A Gillane for Flanagan (63), A O’Connor for T Morrissey (69).

Westmeath: N Conaty; D Egerton, T Doyle, C Shaw; A Craig, R Greville, J Galvin; S Clavin, S McGovern; J Boyle, C Doyle, K Regan; O McCabe, D Glennon, J Gillen.

Subs: N O’Brien for McCabe (inj., 14), J Bermingham for Clavin (h-t), E Keyes for Gillen (52), G Greville for Craig (52), D Clinton for C Doyle (54), M Cunningham for R Greville (blood, 60 to 62).

Ref: C Cunning (Antrim).