Limerick suffer defeat to Antrim in Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 3 clash

“WE WERE always going to be up against it with newcomers making up half of the panel and, while we moved the ball well when we got going, the turnovers killed us,” was manager John Lynch's reaction after Limerick's ladies footballers shipped a heavy 4-16 to 1-4 defeat to Antrim in the second round of their Division Three National League campaign on UL's North Campus on Sunday afternoon.

Although the side gave as good as they got early on, the inexperience of a forward line missing key player from 2025 including the likes of Deborah Murphy, Róisín Ambrose and Rebecca Delee found it difficult to get shots away.

Once Antrim hit the home side with a barrage of scores going into the second quarter, there was only going to be one result.

Limerick saw the resignation of Lynch's predecessor Pat O'Connor as manager due to work commitments following the opening round defeat to Roscommon a week ago.

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Antrim, who were returning to Division 3 of the league, following a two-year absence in the bottom grade, had no such inhibitions in attack after a decisive win over Clare in their previous outing and knew how to get the best out of the height and physical presence of OmoLara Dahunsi and Ciara Brown up the spine of their attack.

Although Limerick dominated the early possession, Antrim grabbed the opening score as Maria O'Neill gathered possession from a quick free to tap over .

The Ulster side then held firm against extended Limerick attacks being turned over before getting in a shot at goal. Another breakaway Antrim saw O'Neill bag her second point on the run as their opponents continued to send frees and shots on goal either short or wide of the mark.

Going into the second quarter, the pace moved up a gear as the visitors sent more bodies forward on the break and the game took a sudden change when a flurry of passes ended with Ciara Brown collecting on the edge of the square and turning to blast to the net.

When Aoibheann Monaghan turned over the resulting kickout to point, the floodgates opened with Theresa Mellon, Monaghan again, Brown, Ana Mulholland, OmoLara Dahunsi and Brown again notching scores to stretch the lead from two points to 12 inside seven torrid minutes before Limerick could get a chance to draw their breath.

When Limerick finally broke from their own half, a swift move forward right on the half-time whistle ended with Laoise Browne gaining possession off Lauren Ryan's pass to drill to the net and reduce her side's deficit to 1-9 to 1-0.

However, Antrim continued where they left off on the restart and, after their first two efforts went wide, points from Mellon, Áine Tubridy, Brown, Laura Agnew and O'Neill moved them further out of sight before both sides re-adjusted their formations as the subs started to pile on. A Browne scored was then cancelled out by one from Mellon.

After Caoimhe Macnamara struck one back for Limerick, their best chance of hauling themselves back into contact came unstuck when Áine Devlin spread herself to the limit to block Katie Heelan's goal shot as well as Éadaoin Crowe's follow-up.

Although Caoimhe McGrath sent over the resulting '45', the clock was running down when McGrath's free cancelled out Ciara Maguire's reply.

Once their replacements had settled in, the Antrim machine picked up again as Bronagh Devlin rose highset in a crowded goalmouth to collect, turn on her descent and blast past replacement goalie Sophie Hennessy. O'Neill then blastedd home goal number four before the scoring ended with Caitlin Taggart's point for the visitors.

SCORERS: ANTRIM: Ciara Brown 2-2, Maria O'Neill 1-3, Bronagh Devlin 1-0, Theresa Mellon 0-3, Aoibheann Monaghan 0-2, Ana Mulholland, OmoLara Dahunsi, Áine Tubridy, Laura Agnew, Ciara Maguire, Caitlin Taggart 0-1 each; LIMERICK: Laoise Browne 1-1, Caoimhe McGrath 0-2 (1 free), Caoimhe Manamara 0-1 ('45').

ANTRIM: Áine Devlin; Áine Kelly, Maeve Blaney, Maeve Mulholland; Carla McKenna, Duana Coleman, Laura Agnew; Ana Mulholland, Áine Tubridy; Theresa Mellon, OmoLara Dahunsi, Maria O'Neill; Aoibheann Monaghan, Ciara Brown, Emma Louise McAreavy. SUBS: Aileen McDonnell for Aoibheann Monaghan (40 mins), Bronagh Devlin for Emma Louise McAreavey (44 mins), Ciara Maguire for Áine Kelly (45 mins), Caitlin Taggart for Theresa Mellon (45 mins), Niamh McArdle for Laura Agnew (52 mins), Lara McNicholl for Áine Tubridy (52 mins), Alyssa Davidson for Ciara Brown (56 mins), Aoife Taggart for OmoLara Dahunsi (56 mins), Luisne Adams for Maria O'Neill (58 mins), Emily Kearns for Carla McKenna (58 mins), Hanna Donaghy for Duanna Coleman (60 mins), Niamh McIntosh for Maeve Blaney (60 mins), Anna McGarry for Maeve Mulholland (60 mins).

LIMERICK: Carol Bateman; Martha Stanley, Ciara Ryan, Aoife Dalton; Maedhbh McNamara, Lucy O'Brien, Éadaoín Crowe; Orla Ryan, Emma Hickey; Caoimhe Macnamara, Lauren Ryan, Katie Heelan; Caoimhe McGrath, Áine Ryan, Laoise Browne. SUBS: Clodagh Ryan for Emma Hickey (half-time), Shona Hickey for Áine Ryan (42 mins), Rebecca Fitzgibbon for Lucy O'Brien (45 mins), Sophie Hennessy for Carol Bateman (45 mins), Aisling Enright for Laoise Browne (45 mins), Molly Creedon for Aoife Dalton (52 mins), Alex Hassett for Caoimhe McNamara (52 mins), Anna O'Dea for Katie Heelan (52 mins), Clodagh Reale for Emma Hickey (58 mins), Summer Behan for Lauren Ryan (60 mins).

REFEREE: Conor McCarthy (Cork).