Limerick ride their luck to ultimately suffocate Clare challenge 

The Treaty set up an All-Ireland final date with Galway.

KEY MOMENT: Aidan O'Connor celebrates his late goal for Limerick, in the 71st minute. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

LIMERICK 1-21 CLARE 1-19 

Not a scoreline you would associate with Croke Park at this time of year but it was that asphyxiating.

Limerick live on with no short amount of fortune but after delivering another incredible second-half shut-out. Against Cork in the Munster final, they conceded just 1-6 after the break, the goal the only score from play. Here, they were more miserly, giving up 1-3, one point outside placed balls.

The goal, of course, could have been far worse had referee Thomas Walsh issued Nickie Quaid a black card for a foul on Peter Duggan that was all that types of cynical. There was a trip, there was a hand in the face of the Clare forward but as he had played the ball on, it was not deemed to be worthy of a departure from the field.

The sin bin has been the source of frustration for Brian Lohan this year and that Quaid was allowed to remain will leave a sour taste. Duggan certainly couldn’t believe it.

Tony Kelly’s 57th minute strike was decisive but Clare did not score again. Aidan O’Connor undid it with four placed balls as Clare were forced into fouling the likes of Gearóid Hegarty, substitute Cian Lynch and Shane O’Brien.

Then came O’Connor’s goal. Duggan appeared to be fouled as Lynch won the ball, it was sent up field to Adam English and he arrowed it diagonally to O’Connor who beat David McInerney to finish low beyond Eibhear Quilligan.

For the first time since the 10th minute, Limerick were ahead in the game and another O’Connor free doubled the cushion. Clare searched in vain but Limerick were immovable by that stage.

Piggery is the term attached to Gaelic football but it would suitably describe what went on under dropping ball here. There were rights, there were wrongs. A lot of the wrongs happened to Hegarty in doing things right in the second half but Duggan had almost as many cases to be rewarded with frees and several went unheeded.

In front of a 56,891 crowd, Hegarty was outstanding for a hiccupping Limerick side who accumulated 15 wides. 

"I'd say Gearóid would probably be disappointed with the first half,” said John Kiely. “He made a huge effort but he found it very difficult to get on the ball and he was probably a bit frustrated.” 

Catching five puck-outs in the second half, he was anything but as it became a game of frees. “For him to go back in at half-time and come back out and deliver the performance he did in the second half, that's a measure of where that man is at,” continued Kiely.

“That's difficult, to reset at half-time having been frustrated and disappointed maybe with your performance in the first half. To come back out then and deliver what he did in the second half, he really took the game to them, he broke lines, won puck-outs, fed the ball, carried the ball, won frees -- what more could he do? He just couldn't do any more. Hats off to him for that because those were the big plays that we needed."

The Saturday rumour that Lynch would be replaced by English turned out to be true, even though the Patrickswell man led out the team and showed no sign of an injury in the warm-up.

For Clare, John Conlon was a late replacement for Shane Meehan and he operated as a sitting midfielder in front of Diarmuid Ryan who at times appeared like a spare defender.

In suffocating conditions, the opening exchanges were iffy and the teams were level on two occasions before Clare moved away with three points without response. Ryan Taylor, Cathal Malone and Kelly, occupying a free role from the inside line, were the scorers.

Lohan was in the right place to deny English a goal chance in the 17th minute and when Shane O’Donnell finished off a score seconds later the Clare roar was heard in full effect.

O’Connor’s frees provided relief for Limerick in the first half and his third free of the game was followed by Kyle Hayes’s first to narrow the gap to two points.

Hayes was then fouled Lohan having lost the ball and the exchange was indicative of the trouble Limerick’s half-back line was experiencing. Clare’s puck-out was causing them difficult as they found themselves crowded out and the likes of Kelly were picking up the scraps.

Two O’Connor frees were Limerick’s only scores between the 24th and first minute of additional time as Clare piled on the points. Duggan’s 30th minute point was an immense score and Kelly’s fourth was backed up by two Rodgers’ frees to send Clare seven ahead.

English and Cathal O’Neill send over much-needed scores prior to the interval. Five was a considerable difference. It wasn’t enough for a Clare side who have a lot of reasons to be indignant in defeat.

At the final whistle, Kelly appeared to exchange some heated words with a Limerick player. Afterwards, Lohan kept his counsel about the penalty. They had reason to feel aggrieved but as proud that Limerick had felt their breath on their necks throughout.

In their previous engagement in Ennis in May, they were a team that died without a whimper. Here, they died on their shields. In O’Donnell’s last game for the county, that felt right.

Limerick return home with their shields gleaming as brightly as Galway’s. The final already feels like it’s going to be a case for the defence.

Scorers for Limerick: A. O’Connor (1-9, 0-8 frees); D. Byrnes (0-3, 2 frees); C. O’Neill, P. Casey (0-2 each); S. O’Brien, A. Gillane, K. Hayes, B. Nash, A. English (0-1 each).

Scorers for Clare: T. Kelly (1-5, 1-0 pen); M. Rodgers (0-7, 6 frees); P. Duggan (0-3); R. Taylor (0-2); C. Malone, S. O’Donnell (0-1 each).

LIMERICK: N. Quaid; S. Finn, D. Morrissey, B. Nash; D. Byrnes, W. O’Donoghue (c), K. Hayes; A. English, D. O’Donovan; G. Hegarty, C. O’Neill, A. O’Connor; P. Casey, A. Gillane, S. O’Brien.

Subs for Limerick: T. Morrissey for G. Hegarty (temp, 34-36); D. Reidy for D. O’Donovan (48); T. Morrissey for A. Gillane (52); C. Lynch for C. O’Neill (57); M. Casey for D. Morrissey (63); F. Fitzgerald for P. Casey (70+5).

CLARE: E. Quilligan; D. Lohan, D. McInerney, A. Hogan; N. O’Farrell, D. Ryan, C. Cleary; J. Conlon, R. Taylor; C. Malone, P. Duggan, S. Rynne; T. Kelly (c), S. O’Donnell, M. Rodgers.

Subs for Clare: C. Galvin for C. Cleary (46); D. Stritch for J. Conlon (48); I. Galvin for M. Rodgers (62); D. Fitzgerald for S. Rynne (63); D. Reidy for D. Stritch (inj 69).

Referee: T. Walsh (Waterford).