Limerick undone by Louth in final quarter of All-Ireland junior ladies football clash

“DEFINITELY  one that got away. We had enough chances to have been out of sight after the break but our scoring efficiency was way off what was needed to win,” was how joint-manager Seán Kiely summed up the performance of Limerick's ladies footballers as they failed to follow-up their runaway opening victory in the All-Ireland junior championship over Kilkenny when going down 2-7 to 0-9 to a fancied Louth team in Doon on Sunday.

Sucker-punched by an unfortunate goal early on, Limerick fought their way back to edge in front into final quarter before they conceded two late frees and then saw insult added to injury when when conceding a second soft goal just as referee Aaron Clogher called time.

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But it should never even have come to that. Showing a confidence and an intensity that grew once Limerick recovered from their early setback, they pinned their opponents back in their own half for most of the remainder of the hour and leave them dependent on the breakaway but they struggled to turn possession into scores.

Fifteen wides to their opponents' four tells part of the story but there were also moves that ran out of direction before their dominance was finally rewarded on the scoreboard and, having put in the mental effort to get themselves almost over the line, there wasn't enough focus left in the tank when Louth struck them with the winning post coming into sight.

After holding up Louth's early attacks, Limerick dominated the opening minutes but, after shooting a pair of wides and losing possession inside the score zone, the home side was punished when a Louth breakaway launched a long delivery into the opposing square and, when the ball wasn't cleared, Kate Flood pounced on it to tap to the net.

Buoyed up by the goal, the Leinster girls quickly pressed their advantage before their hosts rediscovered their shape and stretched into a lead of substance on the back of two frees from Flood and Áine Breen running on to the wide pass to strike on the run.

Going into the second quarter, however, Limerick's moves began to mesh and they finally got off the mark when Deborah Murphy struck from out right and was followed by Rebecca Delee storming through the challenges to point.

The Wee County replied with Flood ending a move up the left by sending the backpass over and again through Breen after Cathy Mee struck on the burst before Caoimhe McGrath sent over in added time to narrow Lout's lead to 1-5 to 0-4 at the break.

The breeze picked up over the interval and Limerick made the most of it, pinning their opponents back in their own half but but missed another few chances before Karen O'Leary pulled the gap back to three.

When she was followed by Murphy's free, the attacks found focus and pace leading to McNamara pointing from out left and Murphy running onto the backpass to equalise on the three-quarter mark.

Keeping up the momentum, a flying move up the centre found its way to McNamara just outside the small square, but Éiís Hand threw body and soul across her to block the shot at the expense of a '45'. Quickly taken, O'Leary streaked into range to fist over and finally put Limerick ahead.

But there the momentum withered, follow-up shots drifted wide and, as the breeze suddenly died away, Louth were able to get length into their clearances.

One ended with Sophie Hennessy smothering Lucy White's goalbound shot on the line and, after turning over the kickout, Flood collected only to see her low effort drift just wide of the far post.

Limerick replied with a few attacks but weren't getting the numbers forward in time before a Louth breakaway ended in Flood sending over the equalising free.

Going into added time, she then punished another foul and any hopes of the home team staging a last gasp recovery died when Breen intercepted the resulting kickout to lob over Hennessy and into the empty net with the last action of the hour.

SCORERS: LOUTH: Kate Flood 1-5 (0-4 frees), Áine Breen 1-2; LIMERICK: Deborah Murphy 0-3 (1 free), Caoimhe McGrath, Karen O'Leary 0-2 each, Rebecca Delee, Cathy Mee 0-1 each.

LOUTH: Rebecca Lambe Fagan; Rachel Beirth, Eilís Hand, Eimear Murray; Seoda Matthews, Shannon McLoughlin, Louise Byrne; Áine Breen, Aoife Halligan; Lucy White, Eimear Byrne, Aoife Russell; Holly Lambie, Kate Flood, Ceire Nolan. SUBS: ciara Woods for Seoda Matthews (46 minutes), Zara Sweeney for Lucy White (56 minutes).

LIMERICK: Sophie Hennessy; Sarah Dillon, Yvonne Le, Joanne McGuire; Maedhbh McNamara, Lucy O'Brien, Grace Lee; Orla Ryan, Karen O'Leary; Caoimhe McGrath, Rebecca Delee, Caoimhe Macnamara; Deborah Murphy, Cathy Mee, Róisín Ambrose. SUBS: Grace Mullane for Orla Ryan (46 minutes), Georgia Georgia Keane for Caoimhe Macnamara (52 minutes), Lauren Ryan for Grace Lee (55 minutes), Éadaoin Crowe for Caoimhe McGrath (56 minutes).

REFEREE: Aaron Clogher (Roscommon).