Limerick bounce back in style as Kiely's charges ease to comfortable win over Galway
BULLISH: Shane O'Brien of Limerick celebrates his goal. Pic: James Lawlor/Inpho
John Cregan, operating the public address system, had hardly finished telling us that David Reidy was being introduced when the same player directed the sliotar between the Galway posts.
Reidy was introduced to the play and the scoresheet in the 53rd minute. His was a fifth consecutive white flag from the hosts. They were responsible for seven of the previous eight.
Peter Casey enjoyed the same instant involvement. Introduced on 47 minutes for his first Limerick involvement since breaking his ankle at the same venue in April of last year, he pointed with his first touch.
It all spoke to an incredibly comfortable evening for John Kiely’s men. They could ease off to such an extent as to only clip two points between the 53rd and 68th minute and still enjoy a winning margin comfortably in the double-digits.
They could afford 12 wides and still win by that very figure.
For Galway, another 12-point drubbing to match the same sized hammering endured on the opening day against Tipp. Their three-in-a-row winning sequence brutally halted.
It has to be noted that Galway played the final half hour with 14 men, but even before Conor Cooney’s 43rd minute dismissal, they were way off the pace and way below the level of physicality being tabled by Limerick.
Cooney could have walked in the eighth minute of the opening half. Instead, he walked in the eighth minute of the second-half. His high challenge on Mike Casey was deemed to be only a yellow card offence by James Owens.
Another challenge on another member of the Limerick full-back line - Barry Murphy taking the hit on this occasion - bought him a second yellow.
Cooney’s misfiring opening to the second period summed up Galway’s overall rudderlessness.
He was off target with a 65 and sent a free against Shane Dowling’s right post.
Amid this succession of misses, Limerick ‘keeper Dowling produced an excellent save to somehow tip over a Brian Concannon drive.
Tiernan Killeen took over the free-taking upon Cooney’s dismissal. He lasted one missed free.
The baton passed to Cathal Mannion thereafter. He made the best fist of any of them. The second-half sub, in his first involvement of 2025, finished with six converted frees and one from play.
Limerick’s second win of the spring, with their postponed Kilkenny fixture still to come next week, returns them to the League final conversation. It’s a conversation Galway are not completely removed from. It is a conversation, however, they are no longer in control of.
A most open first-half. A first half of raining shots. It rained wastefulness too. 18 wides in total, split evenly between the pair. Added to that, Limerick had three goal opportunities that came and went without a green flag being raised.
The first was saved, the latter two flashed wide. Factor in a Colin Coughlan effort dropped short and what you got was the hosts reaching half-time with 13 scores taken and 13 more not.
Galway fared worse. Much worse.
Their nine wides alone was greater than the eight points they finished the half with. Added onto the nine wides was a Tiernan Killeen point attempt dropped short and a Conor Cooney goal strike that Dowling comfortably turned around for a 65.
Galway’s shooting was just one of several issues.
Their full-back line was not at all coping with Shane O’Brien. He wreaked havoc. He helped himself to 1-3.
We’d have said the same about fellow insider, Aaron Gillane, but his waywardness rendered ineffectual the amount of primary possession he was winning out front.
Further out the field, Galway’s short-passing routinely broke down. The ball being supplied to their inside forwards would have had a quality control officer complaining of migraine.
Galway’s first-half total of four points from play surprised nobody when the above factors were stirred in together.
Under every metric, shooting aside, Limerick operated to a different level. Barry Murphy was a rash Conor Whelan could not scratch off. Kyle Hayes and Colin Coughlan were utterly dominant in the half-back line.
Coughlan was eventually rewarded for his prominence with a 33rd minute point. His white flag was part of a Limerick three-in-a-row at the close of the half that shoved the gap out to a more reflective seven points.
It was a re-establishing of the seven-point gap they held following the opening half’s sole major on 19 minutes. Adam English’s low delivery broke perfectly to O’Brien, who barreled through and batted to the net. 1-7 to 0-3.
A brief word on English. He was completely unoccupied by anyone in maroon throughout the opening half. His movement, while superb, went unregulated. Constantly charged forward unchallenged. Could have finished the half with 1-3.
Conor Cooney’s converted 65 two plays prior to Limerick’s goal was Galway’s first in 11 minutes. Filling the space in between was a Limerick three-in-a-row from O’Brien, Gillane (free), and Cathal O’Neill.
Galway’s most profitable spell was a similar three-in-a-row around the half-hour mark. A Conor Cooney pair sandwiched a Tom Monaghan effort. It brought the visitors within four, 1-9 to 0-8. They were fortunate to be within four. They didn’t stay within four for very long.
S O’Brien (1-3); A Gillane (0-6, 0-4 frees); C O’Neill, A O’Connor (0-4 each); B Nash, T Morrissey (0-2 each); C Coughlan, K Hayes, A English, C Lynch, P Casey, D Reidy (0-1 each).
C Mannion (0-7, 0-6 frees); C Cooney (0-6, 0-3 frees, 0-1’65); G Lee, T Monaghan, T Killeen, S Linnane, B Concannon (0-1 each).
S Dowling; S Finn, M Casey, B Murphy; C Coughlan, K Hayes, B Nash; A English, W O’Donoghue; C O’Neill, C Lynch, T Morrissey; A O’Connor, A Gillane, S O’Brien.
V Harrington for Casey (temporary, 9 mins); P Casey for Lynch (47); E Hurley for Hayes (50); D Reidy for O’Donoghue (53); G Hegarty for O’Connor (56); E Stokes for English (65) GALWAY: D Fahy; S Morgan, F Burke, D Morrissey; P Mannion, G Lee, M Garvey; C Fahy, D Burke; T Monaghan, C Cooney, T Killeen; C Whelan, K Cooney, A Burns.
B Concannon for Burns (HT); C Mannion for David Burke (44); J Cooney for K Cooney (47); S Linnane for Whelan (47, inj); TJ Brennan for Morgan (66).
J Owens (Wexford).
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