Limerick Ladies rack up 'magnificent seven' in All-Ireland Junior Championship win over Kilkenny

“THAT was a most satisfactory performance”, was joint-manager Mike Quilligan's reaction as Limerick opened their TG4 All-Ireland Junior Championship Group A campaign with a runaway 7-23 to 0-0 victory over Kilkenny in Callan's John Locke Field on Sunday afternoon.

“We were looking for attitude, we were looking for ruthlessness, were looking for a relentless display and the girls delivered,” Quilligan added.

Fresh from retaining their Munster Senior 'B' title a week earlier, Limerick were always expected to deliver against the lowest ranked county in the game and they did so in style when a juggernaut performance that saw them pile up a lead of 31 points by half-time and, despite now playing against the breeze, ringing in the changes and having their intensity disrupted by stoppages and substitutions in the third quarter, continued right up to the final whistle.

READ NEXT: Limerick minor hurlers suffer All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Waterford

Admittedly, the Shannonsiders were helped by an opposition who had lost much of the experience in their squad over the winter and were forced to field a number of minors in their lineup. However, even though they were outclassed for speed, physicality, experience and teamplay, Kilkenny never threw in the towel and tried to make a contest of the most adverse of circumstances.

Looking ahead to their next outing at home to Louth, joint-manager Quilligan and the other backroom team members would have been most impressed by the intensity of their charges before the break when they never once allowed their opponents get in a shot.

Repeatedly Limerick ruthlessly forced the turnover, ran with intent and passed with precision and speed to open up an endless procession of scoring opportunities. Granted, tougher assignments lie ahead in their quest for a return to the knockout phase of the All-Ireland championship but this performance suggested that there is a level of ambition in this squad not seen for a number of seasons.

With the fresh breeze at their backs, Limerick got stuck in right from the thrown-in. The visitors opened with a Deborah Murphy pointed free, before tacking on a Rebecca Delee point and opened up a serious gap when Murphy ran onto the handpass to drive past Katie Fitzpatrick.

Without pausing for breath, Kathy Mee then added on a pair of Limerick points, the scores quickly followed up with a goal as the kickout was returned. Limerick raised a third green flag raise when Delee crashed onto the final pass of a flying move to bury into the corner.

Fourteen points ahead after just nine minutes, the blitz took a short break as Kilkenny finally made it out of their own half but, despite getting some movement forward, the home side failed to make it past the last line of the visitors' defence.

The response ended when Murphy converted a free on the quarter mark and was followed by the immediate return of the kickout by Róisín Ambrose whose shot dropped just underneath the crossbar and through the defending hands on the goal line.

With that, Limerick took off again with points from Georgia Keane, Mee and Murphy. Mee then fisted home her second goal on the rebound after Fitzpatrick had blocked Aoife Morrissey's shot.

Murphy then pointed from play and from a free, before Keane collected a pass across the face of the square to join the gallery of goalscorers and then followed up with a point before the same player and Karen O'Leary stretched Limerick's lead to a whopping 6-13 without reply at the break.

'The Cats' gave it a go at the restart and, with the breeze now adding some distance to their deliveries, got within the score zone. However, a defence that had lost none of its meanness smothered their attempts at the target.

Two extended injury stoppages delayed Limerick's response and, by the three-quarter mark, they had added points from Lauren Ryan and O'Keane to their tally.

Ryan's second point from a tight angle way out right sparked the machine back into action again. The score was followed by two strikes from Caoimhe McNamara either side of one from O'Leary which were followed by Keane and Murphy's free.

As the stopwatch ambled towards the hour, O'Leary grabbed the final goal of the game, leaping highest to grab possession at the edge of the small square, turning past three challenges and slotting to corner in a seamless extended action before Crowe and Keane finished off the scoring.

SCORERS: LIMERICK: Deborah Murphy 1-7 (0-4 frees), Cathy Mee 2-3, Georgia Keane 1-4, Karen O'Leary 1-2, Rebecca Delee 1-1, Róisín Ambrose 1-0, Éadaoin Crowe, Lauren Ryan, Caoimhe McGrath 0-2 each.

LIMERICK: Carol Bateman; Sarah Dillon, Joanne McGuire, Emma Kennedy; Lauren Ryan, Andrea O'Sullivan, Ellie Woulfe; Karen O'Leary, Deborah Murphy; Róisín Ambrose, Rebecca Delee, Aoife Morrissey; Georgia Keane, Cathy Mee, Éadaoin Crowe. SUBS: Caoimhe McGrath for Rebecca Delee (half-time), Grace Mullane for Róisín Ambrose (half-time), Tara Geoghegan for Cathy Mee (half-time), Greace Lee for Tara Geoghegan (injured, 35 mins), Ciara Hynes for Joanne McGuire (45 mins).

KILKENNY: Katie Fitzpatrick; Emma Stewart, Ailbhe Galwey, Leah Brett; Saidhbh Mooney, Ríona Crowley, Jennifer O'Keeffe; Ruth Crowley, Sarah Smith; Danica Tervit-Kruger, Caroline Coughlan, Caitlinn Moore; Emma Devoy, Alessandra Auboire, Caoimhe Mooney. SUBS: Jane Flynn for Katie Fitzpatrick (half-time), Ríonach Butler for Alessandra Audoire (45 mins).

REFEREE: Sinéad McHugh (Donegal).