Free-scoring Limerick too good for Antrim in Tailteann Cup group clash

“DEFINITELY the most satisfactory performance of the season. And we showed a bit of ruthlessness as well,” was manager Jimmy Lee's reaction to Limerick's 1-18 to 1-10 dismissal of Antrim under the blazing sunshine of Belfast's Corrigan Park on Saturday after his Limerick senior footballers made it two Tailteann Cup group phase wins out of two.

The result guarantees them at worst a home tie in the preliminary quarter-final ahead of their table-topping clash with Westmeath in their final outing.

READ MORE: All You Need to Know: Limerick v Cork in Munster senior hurling championship

More organised, more direct and quicker to react throughout, Limerick kept their focus on their mission despite struggling to reflect their superiority on the scoreboard in the opening quarter.

But once they put three points together without reply in the run-up to the break, the Shannonsiders were able to coax their opponents out of their defensive posture and never looked in danger of being overhauled.

Antrim did manage a response early in the second half but, once Limerick more than wiped that out in a matter of minutes, there was never any doubt about the outcome and, when Iain Corbett converted a penalty for the game's only goal with twenty minutes still on the clock, all that was left for the hosts was to pack back in an attempt to limit the damage in case score difference determines whether they qualify for the play-offs or not.

The Saffrons tried to take some advantage from the blustery diagonal breeze behind them at the throw-in but failed to find the openings through Limerick's defensive formation and then fell behind when Limerick's first two attacks yielded scores for James Naughton and Corbett.

However, they were still doing well on the kickouts and, despite missing a golden chance when Ryan McQuillan's fisted pass across the small square failed to find an inrushing target, Antrim got off the mark with Conor Hand's pot on the run, were back on level terms when James McAuley came up from deep at the end of an extended movement to shoot over from a tight angle and were then denied a second goal chance when Josh Ryan broke from his line to smother Ruairí McCann's finish after pouncing on a Limerick turnover.

The visitors responded immediately with Naughton's free but, despite sorting out their early difficulties with primary possession, failed to build on their lead and were caught again when a Saffron breakaway ended with full-back Eunan Walsh floating a two-pointer over.

However, conceding their hard-won lead concentrated Limerick minds and, as they pressed their opponents on the defensive, equalised with a Peter Nash free, took the lead with a Danny Neville pot-shot under pressure and extended it when Nash collected out wide before jinking into space to tap over.

Naughton then found his third score off a pass and return before Dominic McEnhill halted the sequence with a point from a tight angle but, just as the watch was ticking into added time, Tony McCarthy fired the Shannonsiders into a lead of 0-8 to 0-5 at half-time.

The gap had moved out to five two minutes after the restart when Neville floated over a two-pointer but his side then missed a run of opportunities before McEnhill gave the hosts some hope by twice finishing off breakaway attacks.

However, that rally forced some focus on Limerick's attacks which led to Tadhg Ó Siochrú and Iain Corbett's two-pointer finding the target and, after McEnhill replied from a free, Nash and Naughton moved the gap out to seven.

And at that point, a quarter hour into the second half, the Antrim afternoon caved in. Fionn Nagle's black card opened up more space for Limerick to pour into which they immediately exploited when Emmett Rigter was pulled down on the run and Corbett blasted the penalty into the far corner.

The Glensmen did harvest a Hand point from the resulting kickout but, after that was overtaken by Ó Siochrú and a Naughton free, the subs piled on and the game ended as a contest with fifteen minutes to go.

Through the protracted stoppages, Darragh Murray stopped Walsh's ground shot on the Limerick goal line, McEnhill picked off his fifth score of the day, Naughton replied with a free, an Antrim goal after a rugby scramble in the small square was disallowed but, four minutes into injury, the Saffrons finally found some consolation when Marc Jordan's handpass across the square found the leaping fist of Patrick McBride to whack over the line.

SCORERS: LIMERICK: James Naughton 0-6 (3 frees), Iain Corbett 1-3 (1-0 penalty, 1 2x), Peter Nash (1 free), Danny Neville (1 2x) 0-3 each, Tadhg Ó Siochrú 0-2, Tony McCarthy 0-1; ANTRIM: Dominic McEnhill 0-5 (1 free), Patrick McBride 1-0, Conor Hand, Eunan Walsh (2x) 0-2 each, James McAuley 0-1.

LIMERICK: Josh Ryan; Jason Hassett, Darren O'Doherty, Cormac Woulfe; Mark McCarthy, Iain Corbett, Tony McCarthy; Tommie Childs, Darragh O'Hagan; Paul Maher, Emmett Rigter, Cillian Fahy; Danny Neville, James Naughton, Peter Nash. SUBS: Tadhg Ó Siochrú for Cormac Woulfe (39 minutes), Darragh Murray for Tommie Childs (47 minutes), Killian Ryan for Iain Corbett (59 minutes), Bob Childs for Emmett Rigter (59 minutes), Diarmuid Buckley for Tadhg Ó Siochrú (hia, 64 minutes), R0ry O'Brien for Paul Maher (68 minutes).

ANTRIM: Michael Byrne; Eoghan McCabe, Eunan Walsh, Kevin Keenan; James McAuley, Dermot McAleese, Patrick Finnegan; Conor Hand, Marc Jordan; Ronan Boyle, Adam Loughran, Patrick McBride; Ryan McQuillan, Ruairí McCann, Dominic McEnhill. SUBS: Conor Stewart for Patrick Finnegan (half-time), Fionn Nagle for Ruairí McCann (half-time), John Morgan for James McAuley (68 minutes), Niall Burns for Adam Loughran (68 minutes).

REFEREE: Christopher Brady (Monaghan).