Three Takeaways: Limerick reset expertly like champions do
Limerick goalkeeper Nickie Quaid receives treatment
All it takes is one wise man to stem the tide. Before the turnaround, Limerick were taking on water. Kyle Hayes picked up a yellow card and Evan Niland slotted another of seven first-half frees. Suddenly, Nickie Quaid had his helmet off. The shrewd stalwart required treatment of some sort and a welcome break in play came with it. At the time, Galway led 1-12 to 1-6.
By half-time, it was 1-13 to 1-12. Limerick reset expertly and regained composure like champions do. During that awesome spell, their enormous half-back line feasted on Éanna Murphy’s puckout. The Galway number one tried to take his time and slowly walk around the posts after one restart, but they could not regain control.
Powerful after breaks by design or by accident. In the 45th minute, Kyle Hayes went down injured and took off his helmet. Referee James Owens instructed Quaid to play on. Eventually he drove it out. Shortly after, Aaron Gillane was celebrating his second goal in front of the Hill.
Limerick turned the screw but much of Galway’s second-half malfunction was self-inflicted. Their puckout plan abruptly ran into difficulty and they never adapted for the rest of the tie. In total they only retained 52% of Eanna Murphy’s restarts. Of 20 puckouts after half-time, they won a lowly eight.
Conor Cooney came on for Sean Linnane. He has been a reliable target for much of his career yet found himself pulled out the field trying to crack the middle third stranglehold. Eventually Galway’s structure became completely ragged. They only made four substitutions and one of them was in the final three minutes. Tom Monaghan’s point was the only score they got from the bench. They were left lagging behind long before the final whistle.
Even after John Kiely announced his starting team on Friday, there was still uncertainty as to who would play centre back. Kyle Hayes was wearing six but would Limerick really redeploy Gearóid Hegarty, the best wing forward in the country, to slot in beside him?
For their warm-up, Limerick break off into groups of three and puck between each other. Frequently the trio is made up of a positional line. Aaron Gillane, Seamus Flanagan and Peter Casey were one unit. Beside them, William O’Donoghue filled in with Hayes and Diarmaid Byrnes. Immediately there was a sense they would not line out as named.
O’Donoghue filled in for Limerick’s leader admirably. After 19 minutes with Galway in the ascendancy, he executed a superb strip tackle on Cathal Mannion. That move ended in a Tom Morrissey point.
Just before half-time as Limerick fought back, he claimed a huge puckout and calmly played out. The ball was worked to Seamus Flanagan who snuck over another. Behind him Dan Morrissey bested Conor Whelan out in front Darragh O’Donovan put in a Man of the Match performance.
“I’d be very happy with the way William slotted in there and the work he got through. He is a great leader and took on the mantle of leadership in that position from Declan. He was a good natural fit for us there,” said victorious boss John Kiely post-match.
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