Limerick 2-18
Galway 1-19
Pádraic Ó Ciardha reports from Pearse Stadium
LIMERICK WILL PLAY Division 1A hurling next year for the first time since 2010 after producing a superb second half comeback to see off All-Ireland champions Galway in Pearse Stadium.
John Kiely’s side were eight points down at halftime but they dominated the last 35 minutes to leave the Tribesmen in Division 1B for another season.
Galway made a lightning start to the game and were 1-3 to 0-0 by just the third minute, Cathal Mannion grabbing the goal after Conor Cooney and David Burke, making his first start in the league, opened the scoring.
Gearóid Hegarty finally opened Limerick’s account in the fifth minute. They were then given a route back into the game moments later when Barry Murphy was dragged down in front of goal with Aaron Gillane expertly finishing the penalty.
When Séamus Flanagan pointed in the ninth minute, there was just a point between the teams, 1-3 to 1-2, but Galway took charge until the interval. Cathal Mannion was in superb form in front of goal, adding to his goal with four points from play while Jason Flynn also chipped in five points, four from frees.
Eight points separated the sides at halftime, 1-15 to 1-7, but Limerick hit 11 wides in total during the first half with Seamus Flanagan proving their only consistent threat up front.
In what had been an open contest up to that point, the final minutes of the half was marred by indiscipline with Galway’s David Burke and Limerick’s Diarmuid Byrnes picking up yellow cards after a brawl in which the Galway man, in particular, was lucky not to see red.
Limerick started the second half well, Aaron Gillane and David Reidy reducing the deficit to six and while Jason Flynn got one back for Galway, three frees on the bounce from Aaron Gillane left four between the teams.
That gap dropped to one in the 48th minute when Kyle Hayes’ found the net after his shot deflected off Adrian Tuohey, leaving James Skehill wrong-footed.
Conor Cooney hit an important point in response for Galway but Limerick were in the ascendancy and when David Reidy, Gillane and Flanagan all found the target, the Munster side were back on level terms.
The sides were still level in the 68th minute before Cian Lynch burst through to put them ahead for the first time. A draw was no good for Galway as they went in search of a goal but it was Limerick who got the final score through Pat Ryan.
Scorers for Limerick: Aaron Gillane 1-7 (1-0 pen, 0-6f, 0-1 sideline), Séamus Flanagan 0-5, Kyle Hayes 1-0, David Reidy 0-2, Gearóid Hegarty 0-1, Graeme Mulcahy 0-1, Cian Lynch 0-1, Pat Ryan 0-1.
Scorers for Galway: Jason Flynn 0-7 (0-6f), Cathal Mannion 1-4, Conor Cooney 0-2, Greg Lally 0-2 (0-1 sideline), Johnny Coen 0-2, Joe Canning 0-1 (0-1 ’65), David Burke 0-1.
Limerick
1. Nicky Quaid (Effin)
2. Seán Finn (Bruff)
18. Richie McCarthy (Blackrock)
4. Richie English (Doon)
5. Diarmuid Byrnes (Patrickswell)
6. Declan Hannon (Adare)
7. Dan Morrissey (Ahane)
8. Paul Browne (Bruff)
9. Cian Lynch (Patrickswell)
10. Gearóid Hegarty (St Patrick’s)
11. Tom Morrissey (Ahane)
12. David Reidy (Dromin-Athlacca)
13. Aaron Gillane (Patrickswell)
14. Séamus Flanagan (Feohanagh)
15. Barry Murphy (Doon)
Substitutes
23. Kyle Hayes (Kildimo-Pallaskenry) for Hegarty (18)
19. Paddy O’Loughlin (Kilmallock) for Byrnes (35-40, blood)
22. Graeme Mulcahy (Kilmallock) for Flanagan (60)
20. Pat Ryan (Doon) for Reidy (63)
24. Colin Ryan (Pallasgreen) for Browne (66)
Galway
1. James Skehill (Cappatagle)
2. Adrian Tuohy (Beagh)
4. Pádraic Mannion (Ahascragh-Fohenagh)
3. Shane Bannon (Clarinbridge)
5. Greg Lally (Gort)
6. Gearóid McInerney (Oranmore-Maree)
7. Aidan Harte (Gort)
8. Johnny Coen (Loughrea)
20. David Burke (St Thomas’)
10. Shane Maloney (Tynagh-Abbey/Duniry)
11. Cathal Mannion (Ahascragh-Fohenagh)
13. Conor Whelan (Kinvara)
12. Niall Burke (Oranmore-Maree)
15. Conor Cooney (St Thomas’)
14. Jason Flynn (Tommy Larkins)
Substitutes
24. Davy Glennon (Mullagh) for Burke (25-29, blood) & for Flynn (58)
9. John Hanbury (Rahoon-Newcastle) for Bannon (44-47, blood) & for Tuohy (48)
26. Joe Canning (Portumna) for Maloney (53)
18. Shane Cooney (St Thomas’) for Lally (54)
22. Brian Concannon (Killimordaly) for Niall Burke (67)
Referee: Cathal McAllister (Cork)
Well done Limerick.
@Finnster: I’d fear for Galway a bit this year. No doubt they’ll be up there and competitive. But they were absolutely full throttle last year and only barely beat a fractured Tipp by a point. This year I think they’re going to find it tough to reach those heights again given their lacklustre preparations so far. It’s very hard to just turn it on. They were on a mission last year no doubt.
@Noel Ryan: agreed Noel. We are happy with the win last year can’t see us doing two in a row. I’d say tipp or clare are in the running. It was just great to get to the holy grail after nearly 30 years.
Super Win for Limerick to go up to Galway and Beat the All-Ireland Champions. Mighty Stuff. Hail Hail
Nearly turned it off at half time, great second half performance. Well done Limerick.
Great win for Limerick. Unbeaten in 2018 so far! Finally back in 1A after 8 years
Well done Limerick. Great second half. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if Limerick Wexford Dublin Clare Offaly could get them selves up another level or so for championship and really put it up to the traditional superpowers it would make the summer so much more interesting
@Gerard O’Reilly: I’d hardly call Galway a traditional power, with their 1 All-Ireland in 30 years, and only 5 titles ever. Waterford even less so Limerick, on the other hand, have the most titles outside the big 3!
@Ewan Euphrenza: How many do Dublin have? Thought they had the most outside the top 3/4?
@Ewan Euphrenza: An All Ireland is due for Limerick. Its been 48 years at this stage!
@Sean Dilligan: 45….long years!!!
@Ewan Euphrenza: I half expected this reply when I was posting my original message. I accept what your saying about Galway and Waterford not being in the top 3 traditional hurling counties but I think it’s fair to say that they’ve been hurling at a much more consistent level the last few years than any of the others I mentioned.
@Noel Ryan: Dublin have 6 Limerick 7
With the success of Ardscoil Ris, the Limerick U21’s, Na Piarsaigh & UL Limerick hurling is at an all time high. Don’t be fooled, these lads are contenders.
Well done Seamus Flanagan and everyone involved with the team
I’m a Limerick man with Galway connections but if Limerick start like they did in the first half come championship they won’t win a game of scrabble never mind Hurling.
But Galway really blew that, got involved in stupid stuff and where very very lucky not to have 2 players red carded.
@AngryDave: But it’s a relief to get out of 1B and credit to the Limerick players/management for standing up and having a go.
@AngryDave: savage win for Limerick tho, great to build some momentum and keep it going, needed this win alot more than Galway aswel! 11 wides made the scoreline look like it was piss easy for Galway in the 1st half, got it together in the 2nd half tho, decent game aswel
@AngryDave: If I remember properly from last year that Galway overcame Waterford in the quarter finals in similar if not a worse situation coming from behind to win and continue on doing so for the rest of the year. Obviously Limerick hit a lot of wides but to their credit kept playing good hurling and cut down on the wides. This has to be a great sign in any young team trying to improve. They’ll be a right handful to all serious contenders
Well done limerick. Hope they can manage to do as well in the championship and just as importantly stay in division 1a and not be relegated again next year. Heres hoping.
Thumbs up
Delighted for limerick , good competitive game. Touhy should have got red, cowardly strike.
We were up against 16 today with McAllister failing to act fairly. As mentioned two red cards could have been shown but his gaa bias of extra time 4 mins and failing to award the limerick forwards any frees in the closing stages was nothing short of a disgrace. The fool must not have realized that a draw would have done limerick in his efforts to get Galway into the danger areas. Unlucky McAllister and your fellow officials
@Trevor Beacom: get over it . I was there and both sides were playing dirty and both got soft frees . Take the win and move on .
@Finnster: my hole they were your talking shit like tom fahy. We won its all good.
@Trevor Beacom: no team needs fans like you. You weren’t at the match so how could you see what went on off the ball. I’d hate to see your reaction if Ye lost .
@Finnster: listen you bag of wind, post under your real name…I was enjoying myself with mates up on a pretty decent terrace.
Galway won’t be unhappy staying in 1B. They are clearly unfit and know what they need to do.It looked at times in the second half like they didn’t want to win. Michael Donoghue will be very happy with the game.
@Tom Fahey: jeez that’s some bullshit, unfit and happy to lose!!!??? How do u come to that conclusion? Cos they certainly looked liked they were trying to me and looked pretty fit!!
@Now or Never: totally agreed, that guy is just a silly troll
@conor murphy: you’d swear it was a major disgrace/shock to be beaten by Limerick!
@Now or Never: bitter Galway fan,don’t take any notice,Limerick have still Na Piarsigh players to come back,didn’t want to win yet had 2 players lucky not to be sent off
@Now or Never: as a Galway fan there is no disgrace or shock in Galway that Limerick won. Fully deserved but Galway did look unfit in last quarter of game. This will do much more for Limerick and give them a bit of belief. Galway will do well to beat Wexford at home so it’s a tough start to the year but we are still on a high from 2017.
@Finnster: well that was the first proper competitive game of the league for both teams so can see where you’re coming from regarding fitness last quarter, but im pretty sure ye wanted a win as much as ourselves. The promotion will do wonders for Limericks progression, Galway don’t really need to peak until later stage of Provincial Championship, but for Limerick we need to be right at it asap from the start, it’s the progress this team needs and hopefully we can push on and reach a consistent level Galway set last year, be nice to cross paths again along the way;)
@digger: no bitter fans in Galway, we are happy to see limerick doing well .I’m sure you were at the match though or were you at home watching it on tv
@Now or Never: I didn’t say they didn’t want to win, limericks younger players much fitter and tbh probably hungrier for the win. It will be good for hurling if there are 5 or 6 teams at the top table come championship . Kilkenny winning nearly everything over the past 15 years was not good for the game . Enjoy the win, Clare will be tough next week and a good test for Limerick
@Finnster: ah no was more or less having a rant at what the other moron was talking about, saying they didn’t want the win and would be happy with today’s game, bull!! Always at the games, was bleak at half-time tbh but we’ve some good young lads and they need backing all the time, delighted the put a shift in for the 2nd half a d massive bonus to win, next week be nice tasty affair now, pressure is kind of off but be great to win a d keep momentum going. Ye are no doubt still the team to beat this year, we certainly won’t get carried away from winning today, big boost yes but that’s all it is
Limerick were definitely further ahead in levels of fitness, as could be witnessed in the second half. Galway faded badly, restricted to just 0-4 in the entire second half. I’ve no doubt the long winter celebrations were a factor in Galway being off the pace throughout the league. This was their first serious challenge and Limerick were in determined mood.
The wind in Salthill today was also a factor, Galway made good use of it in first half by hitting some fine long range scores, while Limerick hit silly wides at the other end. Once the game became close i expected Limerick’s fitness to get them over the line and so it was. Kiely has done a fine job integrating the u21s into the side and they are playing more common sense hurling this year. Promotion has been a long time coming!
@Colm O’Sullivan: agreed .