Sean O'Shea shines as ruthless Kerry rout Limerick

The Kenmare man notched 2-4 in a noteworthy first-half display.

PUT IT THERE: Limerick manager Jimmy Lee and Kerry manager Jack O'Connor shake hands after the McGrath Cup Group A match in Rathkeale. Picture: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

KERRY 6-18 LIMERICK 0-11 

Another eye-catching full-forward cameo from Sean O’Shea will have given Kerry manager Jack O’Connor plenty of food for thought after this annihilation of hosts Limerick in the McGrath Cup encounter at Mick Neville Park in Rathkeale.

After coming off the bench to kick six points from his posting closer to goal against Tipperary in Tralee three days previously, the Kenmare Shamrocks attacker was in equally blistering form on this occasion, notching 2-4 in a noteworthy first half display.

Dove-tailing brilliantly with the impressive Geaney siblings, Dylan and Conor, O’Shea’s double goal blast, in the 11th and 12th minutes, stopped a positive Limerick beginning dead in its tracks, with the result that the floodgates opened from there to the interval.

Conor Geaney was next to raise a brace of green flags, his composed finishes in the 18th and 24th minutes, supplemented by Ronan Buckley’s fisted effort to the net in injury-time, had the visitors home and hosed by the half-time whistle (5-10 to 0-6).

The Shannonsiders, fielding a youthful side in Jimmy Lee’s first competitive fixture at the helm (captain Iain Corbett was a late cry-off before the throw-in), dug in manfully in the second half, but some elementary mistakes at the back during the afternoon were always going to be severely punished.

Making nine changes for the second half, the tempo of Kerry’s attacking play understandably dropped down a level or two, with Darragh Roche adding the sixth goal in the 50th minute after another misplaced hand-pass by Limerick, with the speedy Keith Evans showing to good effect late on.

There was one late scare for the Kingdom with goalkeeper Shane Ryan being forced off near the finish after taking a knock to the shoulder after an aerial collision, with the again impressive Joe O’Connor finishing his day between the posts with all permitted substitutes having already been utilised.

Thankfully, from a Kingdom perspective, the Rathmore custodian didn’t appear to be any distress leaving the field in what appeared to be more of a precautionary measure. Kerry are now likely to face Cork in the McGrath Cup Final in a fortnight’s time.

Scorers for Kerry: S O’Shea 2-4 (0-1f), C Geaney 2-2 (0-2fs), D Geaney 0-4, R Buckley 1-1, K Spillane 0-3 (0-1f, 0-1mk), D Roche 1-0, J O’Connor, Stephen O’Brien, J Alfred (own point), K Evans 0-1 each.

Scorers for Limerick: D Siochrú (0-1f), T Griffin, D Daly (0-1f), J Alfred (‘45s) 0-2 each, B Nix, S O’Dea, A Meade 0-1 each.

KERRY: S Ryan; P Murphy, J Foley, D Casey; B O Beaglaoich, S Okunbor, G White; J O’Connor, Sean O’Brien; A Spillane, D Geaney, R Buckley; C Geaney, S O’Shea, D Moynihan.

Subs: D Bourke for Casey (ht), J Nagle for O Beaglaoich (ht), M Breen for Okunbor (ht), P O’Leary for White (ht), B O’Sullivan for O’Brien (ht), Stephen O’Brien for Spillane (ht), K Spillane for C Geaney (ht), D Roche for O’Shea (ht), M Burns for Moynihan (ht), G O’Sullivan for Murphy (45), K Evans for D Geaney (45).

LIMERICK: A O’Sullivan; J Liston, S O’Dea, B O’Sullivan; R Childs, C Fahy, P Maher; E Rigter, T Griffin; A Meade, B Coleman, B Nix; D Siochrú, J Hayes, E Hurley.

Subs: J Alfred for A O’Sullivan (ht), J Sweeney for Liston (ht), T McCarthy for Maher (ht), T Siochrú for Fahy (ht), D O’Doherty for Coleman (ht), D Murray for Hayes (40), T Childs for Hurley (45), D Daly for R Childs (49), S Costello for Nix (53), A Neville for Meade (54), R O’Connor for B O’Sullivan (54).

Referee: C Dineen (Cork).