Limerick 2-1 UCD
LIMERICK SECURED THEIR third league win in a row after a deserved victory over UCD at Thomond Park.
Samir Belhout gave the visitors a chance after Tam McManus and Shane Duggan fired Limerick into a seemingly comfortable lead, but Aaron Callaghan’s men could not find that elusive equaliser.
Stuart Taylor spoke midweek about his disappointment at exiting the FAI Ford Cup against Bohemians last Saturday and sought to make amends. His side did not waste any time in doing so as Tam McManus struck after 90 seconds.
Some good interplay in midfield afforded space for Kelly on the right wing. He was composed enough to pick out an inviting ball towards the six-yard box and former Hibs striker McManus rocketed his header past O’Donnell to put the hosts ahead.
Jason Hughes and Prince Agyemang missed last week’s clash with Bohs through suspension, but their return to the starting XI allowed Limerick to pass and move in the fashion they have become accustomed to. Creating a number of chances in the first half, Stuart Taylor will be happy with his side’s display, although it could have easily been 5-0 at half time had they converted their opportunities.
Hat-trick of home chances
Duggan fired a feisty effort just past the post only moments after McManus opened the scoring. McManus then followed suit with a similar effort. Folan completed the hat trick of decent chances when he fired his free header over O’Donnell’s crossbar soon after.
Perhaps the best opportunity for the home side to double the advantage came via Prince Agyemang. Gaffney went one-on-one with O’Donnell but tried an ambitious lob. The UCD stopper was equal to the dink, but Agyemang followed up the rebound — only to fire well over from fifteen yards.
UCD will have felt they rode their luck in the first half, but they were punished in the early stages of the second half as Duggan doubled the advantage. A corner from Agyemang on the right caused problems for UCD who couldn’t clear. The ball broke to Duggan twelve yards out and he blasted home to the delight of the World Cup boycotters.
The tempo in the game dropped ever so slightly and Limerick paid for it. They switched off and the visitors took advantage. Samir Belhout pulled one back for the Students – his strike from inside the box gave the visitors hope despite Limerick’s dominance.
The visitors could not create any more chances of note however – and Limerick hung on to secure a third league win in a row.
LIMERICK: Ryan; Kelly, Oji, Folan, Nzuzi; Duggan, Agyemang, Hughes; Galbraith; McManus (Mann, 72) Gaffney.
Subs not used: Cusack, Williams, Leahy, Costelloe, Rainsford, Whitehead.
UCD: O’Donnell; Douglas, Kavanagh, Ryan, Matthews; Belhout, Crowe, Creevy (McCabe, 68), Mulhall; Burke (Wilson, 86); Benson.
Subs not used: Corbet, Boyle, Barker, O’Halloran.
Referee: R Harvey (Dublin).
Premier Division results:
Shamrock Rovers 0 – 2 Cork City
Bray 0 – 5 Bohs
Dundalk 0 – 0 St Patrick’s Athletic
Sligo 2 – 2 Derry
Athlone 6 — 0 Drogheda
Cork are so bad, Lord
Clare to win the all ireland
Is it tidy towns you are on about.
Wolf , donal og cusack was not wrong when he showed the Graf on the Sunday game last year of where cork hurling is at the moment , that was atrocious from a county that has been so resoundingly competitive for years , as we always said in tipp a good year was the hay saved and cork bet , not the case anymore unfortunately from a tipp this sad to see as it is not good for the sport in general
7 points down with 10 mins to go and they’re STILL using a sweeper what are the management thinking!?
Terrible decision to use a sweeper for all the game
The tactic seems to have been to concentrate on keeping the Tipp margin of victory as low as possible..
That way the Cork public might not turn against the County Board.
It’s all about self preservation.
As a Galway man I’m worried how that cork team beat us in the relegation decider.
Not looking good when it looks like Kerry can outplay Cork in both codes.
That was the worst Cork team, led by the worst Cork management in living memory. Not help by having the worst County Board in Ireland.
It’s grand. Frank Murphy et al will have their legacy with the new stadium and that’s what really matters.
Absolutely sickening stuff….
Probably call it ‘Murphy Park!
Cork were terrible, Couldn’t even pass the ball to each other and hit numerous aimless balls down the park.Tipp won the majority of 50/50s and dominated all the scuffles on the park. There’s a long road ahead for Cork hurling as this group of players are not be up to the standard required.
Worst cork performance in my living memory nit one player would get on the the team of 10 years ago
How did we get so bad?
When you depend on decent guys from junior and intermediate clubs your in big trouble the senior clubs in Cork are of such poor standard it’s amazing we can even limit Tipp to 9 points. The upside is we will have a New state of the art stadium for other Munster counties to play in come championship time and we will have plenty stewards . In serious grief at seeing this latest capitulation and no sign of any light for the road ahead
Ye are on a par with Wexford I’m afraid.
On way down in train, Cork have become the “kerry” of Munster hurling
From a Tipp fan – it was a poor match overall. Both teams will have not learned much from today. Limerick will be a different story! !
When you set up your side for damage limitation that is all you will achieve, the sweeper system has hurling destroyed.The 2013 championship was one of the best in living memory but it seems like a lifetime ago now! I can only hope that Limerick will go 15 on 15 in the semi-final and play their natural gung ho shit or bust style because if they don’t another woeful game will drift by.
The sweeper can still be played in a positive and entertaining way but it requires far more tactically than simply pulling a man back. When you play a sweeper you also play against a sweeper, teams need to execute both defensive and offensive sides of the formation. Look at Clare for example, defensively they press hard when not in possession and crowd midfield forcing teams to play long balls up to where they have an extra man who now has more time to get into position to cover. Then in attack they utilise rapid short passing to work the ball past midfield so they can play long forward passes that bypass the sweeper. It can be done well and still be entertaining but the likes of Cork and Limerick are now trying it without any idea of how to play the system and producing dour matches
Is Frank there for life? Is it like being pope?
Frank does what he wants and NO ONE dares question him.
Patrick Horgan with yet another game of no scores from play!
Shocking.. what were they thinking with the sweeper system ??? A draw ???? Short summer ahead..
Cork should enter the Christy ring
Hello Cork, hello Cork, where are ye.?????
Cork were abysmal today it is sad to see how far they have gone back the game needs a competitive cork side
These players have worked as hard as previous teams and the management have worked as hard as previous managers.We are at the low end of the cycle.The wheel will turn in time but let’s not be personally offensive to players or managers and selectors
Your right… I don’t blame the players, management or selectors…
I blame the county board and more importantly the man who has been running it for over 40 years…
William my comment may have came across wrong. I didn’t mean to have a go at Egan or anyone in particular. I just found d whole game v frustrating. Cork are better than that.
I see the blaming of poor auld frank has started as usual…only one thing for it then I suppose another strike
Why on earth would cork change their tactics to one they have never used and try it in their championship opener against Tipp of all teams aswell
Roll on kilkenny to sort them out
It’s all well and good using a sweeper if they know what they doin. Egan was standing there with not a clue what he was supposed to b at. He may as well been up in d stand.
Hope they don’t become as bad as the Kilkenny footballers
On the ball William…We are in a transition with plenty of challenges ahead. This is the right back room crew to get things turned around.
I love your optimism
I took the m
Jesus, are there any hurlers left in Cork?
Can’t believe how much cork hurling has declined this year. Yesterday showed that they’ve no leadership on the pitch and no plans other than using a sweeping system no matter what. JBM was restricted during his time in charge by the power that be (frank murphy) Also the last players strike certainly accomplished nothing but contribute to the demise of cork hurling. It’s a shame, there’s some great young hurlers all over cork county.