Battling Limerick play out exciting draw with Laois in Allianz Football League opener

LIMERICK senior footballers played out an exciting 0-13 to 1-10 draw with Laois in their Allianz Football League Division 3 opener at Laois Hire O'Moore Park, Portaloise on Saturday night.

The sides were also level at half time with Limerick on 0-7 and Laois notching 1-4 after the opening 35 minutes.

Jimmy Lee's Limerick sided nudged into a one-point lead, 0-13 to 1-9, in second half injury time after Eliah Riordan landed a two-point free.

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However, home side Laois struck for a late equaliser through Niall Corbet to secure a share of the spoils.

“Lucky at the end to get away with a draw, but we should have built up a lead by half-time,” was how manager Jimmy Lee summed up Limerick's return to Division Three of the National Football League afterwards.

After a bright opening, Lee's charges looked to have left the opportunity of a winning start to their campign slip from their hands when they were hauled back to level tems just before the break and then fell behind to their opponents' energy-charged start to the restart.

By the final whistle, however, Limerick were clearly the more satisified side despite seeing their late, late grasp at the lead neutralised three minutes into added time.

Showing the maturity developed over the latter half of the 2005 season, Limerick never panicked despite getting rolled over in the middle after the break, defeneded like demons to keep themselves in touch, pulled themselves back from the brink two-pointers from a free and from play and left the home support regretting a point lost in a game that their side should have put to bed.

Playing into the diagonal wind, Limerick gained nothing from their early possession, but their movement moved up a gear after Patrick O'Sullivan came up on the overlap to get Laois off the mark and drew level through Mark McCarthy at the end of a move up the right.

Laois' efforts at a response died on a couple of wides which they paid for when their opponents began to dominate the long kickouts for Danny Neville and then Naughton off Neville's feed putting them three points ahead.

However, just as Limerick looked like moving on, a short kickout was overturned and the break was tipped into Evan O'Carroll to slot past the retreating Jeffrey Alfred.

However, the Midlanders failed to create create momentum from the equaliser, leaving Limerick to move back ahead with points from Neville and Conall Ó Duinn.

After the pace dropped off again, the Shannonsiders were fortunate to see Jason Hassett stop Rioghan Murphy's shot on the line after a short kickout was again turned over.

Coming up to the break, the Leinstermen finally found some fluidity after a run of missed chances. Ciarán Burke's burst up the centre and, despite Naughton meeting that with a free, O'Carroll struck scores both from play and from a free to tie the scores at 1-4 to 0-7 at half-time.

Whatever was said in the home dressing-room over the break had its effect as Conor Heffernan pointed straight off the restart for Laois and then, as Limerick were forced into turnovers, two fouls were drawn for Murphy and O'Carroll to punish.

Danny Neville's reply broke the momentum, but Laois continued to tighten their grip in the middle. However, the home side failed to reflect their advantage on the scoreboard and could have fallen behind when Bob Childs punched a long effort at a score back acrross the square for Colm McSneeny to whack home. However, the goal was disallowed when the umpire signalled that Childs had a foot over the goal line.

The O'Moore County team broke from the resulting kickout with a flashing attack that ended with Barry Coleman intercepting the final pass.

After getting partial reward with O'Carroll pointing the called-back free, Laois then saw another goal chance evapotate when Paul Maher stopped Darragh Galvin's effort. When play was then called back for a free, goalkeeper Killian Roche brought it back outside the arc only to see his attempt at a two-pointer drift wide of the target.

The misses led to the hosts settling more for containment and but, coming up to the closing minutes, Eliah Riordan shaved a point off the margin and, when Coleman went one better by ending an extended move by hoofing over a two-pointer to level the scores, both sets of supporters in the decent-sized crowd found their voice.

Still dominating the middle, Donie Kingston restored Laois's lead going into the four added minutes after two reasonable chances had been wasted.

However, Limerick went one better after drawing a foul a full 50 metres out on the left which Riordan coolly slotted between the posts for the lead. However, Laois's reply was immediate as Niall Corbet equalised at the end of a flowing move.

However, their last shot at a winner was closed off by the visitors' defence just as the referee called time.

SCORERS: LIMERICK: James Naughton, Eliah Riordan (1 2x free) 0-3 each, Danny Neville, Barry Coleman (1 2x) 0-2 each, Mark McCarthy, Andrew Meade, Conal Ó Duinn 0-1 each. LAOIS: Evan O'Carroll 1-4 (0-3 frees), Patrick O'Sullivan, Ciarán Burke, Conor Heffernan, Rioghan Murphy (free), Donie Kingston, Niall Corbet 0-1 each.

LIMERICK: Jeffrey Alfred; Jason Hassett, Darren O'Doherty, Mark McCarthy; Barry Coleman, Killian Ryan, Diarmuid Buckley; Jack McCarthy, Paul Maher; Eliah Riordan, Andrew Meade, Conal Ó Duinn; Bob Childs, James Naughton, Danny Neville. SUBS: Colm McSweeney for Jason Hassett (half-time), Sam Quigley for Conal Ó Duinn (injured, 38 minutes), Rory O'Brien for Paul Maher (injured, 60 minutes), Emmet Rigter for Andrew Meade (60 minutes),

LAOIS: Killian Roche; Ben Dempsey, Trevor Collins, Jack Lacey; Patrick O'Sullivan, Brian Byrne, Kevin Swayne; Robert Tyrell, Ciarán Burke; Cian Nolan, Ronan Coffey, Conor Heffernan; Rioghan Murphy, Darragh Galvin, Evan O'Carroll. SUBS: Niall Corbet for Cian Nolan (53 minutes), Colin Dunne for Darragh Galvin (65 minutes), Mikey Dempsey for Ciarán Burke (68 minutes), Paul Kingston for Evan O'Carroll (68 minutes).

REFEREE: Alan Coyne (Westmeath).