Nash's last gasp goal secures dramatic win for Limerick in National Football League

“THAT was a nail-biter,” was manager Jimmy Lee's reaction as his Limerick senior footballers struck with an injury time goal to snatch their first Allianz League Division 3 victory of their campaign with a 1-15 to 1-14 success against Wexford in Rathkeale's Mick Neville Park on Sunday.

“Wexford were well up for gaining revenge after us beating them in last year's Tailteann Cup and Division 4 league final, but this team of ours just doesn't give up.”

Having been beaten by Down's lask kick point in their previous outing and drawn with Laois in their opening Division 3 fixture, this was a crossroads game in Limerick's league season as defeat would have left them battling against an instant return to the bottom grade.

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And for most of a ding-dong battle against opponents with two victories already under their belt, it looked as if success was going to elude Limerick once again as every time they came within touching distance of grabbing the equaliser, the Shannonsiders were zapped by an immediate Wexford response.

Weather-wise, it was one of those frustrating days when a sudden shower or wind suddenly dropping after the heavens opened left both sides constantly needing to adapt to the conditions.

After Limerick had kept their shape and concentraion to keep in touch as they faced into the stiff first half breeze, it looked as if the home side might have missed the boat when they didn't get the same assistance after the break.

Going into the three added minutes, Limerick were trailing by four before they threw everyting into a barnstorming finish that dramatically got them over the line.

Struggling to control the kickout against the wind, Limerick were pinned back into their own half from the throw-in and, after watching Wexford's first three attempts at two-pointers fail to hit the target, then fell behind to Seán Nolan's free.

Keeping up the pressure, the Model County moved further ahead as Nolan and Dylan Furlong, with a two-pointer, broke through the hosts' defensive screen to exted the gap to four points.

Limerick then got off the mark when Cillian Fahy burst onto the handpass to find the target for their opening score.

However, the visitors were dominating both possession and territory and looked like assembling a tidy lead when Cathal Kehoe sent over another two-pointer. That score was followed by a Mark Rossiter point.

However, going into the second quarter, Limerick steadied their shape off the kickout and, patiently using possession within the opposing half, drew a foul for James Naughton to punish and then tack on one point from play.

Coming up to the break, Limerick continued their dominance of primary possession and drew closer with Bob Childs's point,  before the Leinster side broke to hit back with points from Tom Byrne and Niall Hughes.

However, right at the end of a single minute of added time, Fahy's point reduced the deficit to 0-9 to 0-5 as the sides trooped off to the dressing-rooms.

The rain had descended before the teams re-appeared for the second half and the wind had strengthened into a blustery gale.

Wexford took it on and, despite Naughton pointing at the other end of a break, the visitors struck back with Liam Coleman's fisted point and then saw Jack Higgins's shot off a burst up the middle crash back off the crossbar.

The wind eased when the sun returned after the downpour, but Limerick held their shape long enough against composed Wexford defending for Eliah Riordan to fire over a two-pointer which was quickly followed up by Tony McCarthy's point on the run to reduce the gap between the sides to the minimum.

However, the Limerick recovery was punctured within moments as a Wexford break ended with Niall Hughes collecting the lay-off from cousin Pádraig to blast the ball into the roof of Jeffrey Alfred's net.

Then after Bob Childs pointed in reply, the visitors continued surfing the wave as Eoin Porter and Nolan added scores to have them leading by five points with ten minutes to go.

Winding themselves up for another foray, Naughton sent over a two-pointer free for a breach and was followed by Fahy pointing on the loop.

However, when Danny Neville's goal shot was smothered by Gavin Sheehan, Wexford made the most of their escape to extend their advantage through points from Nolan's free and Jack Higgins and it looked all over going into added time.

But Limerick refused to give up and pulled themselves back into contact when Naughton judged his range and timing to a tee to fire over a two-point free which set up a nervy finish.

Naughton then collected Neville's pass off the next movement, jinked into a glimmer of space and saw his shot from a tight angle get the final connection for Peter Nash to glance home the match-winning goal.

SCORERS: LIMERICK: James Naughton 0-7 (1 2x free, 1 2x, 1 free), Peter Nash 1-0, Cillian Fahy 0-3, Bob Childs, Eliah Riordan (2x free) 0-2 each, Tony McCarthy 0-1; WEXFORD: Seán Nolan 0-4 (2 frees), Niall Hughes 1-1, Dylan Furlong (2x), Cathal Kehoe (2x) 0-2 each, Mark Rossiter, Tom Byrne, Glen Malone, Eoin Porter, Jack Higgins 0-1 each.

LIMERICK: Jeffrey Alfred; Oran Collins, Colm McSweeney, Jason Hassett; Tony McCarthy; Killian Ryan, Diarmuid Buckley; Cillian Fahy, Barry Coleman; Seán Clancy, Andrew Meade, Eliah Riordan; Danny Neville, James Naughton, Bob Childs. SUBS: Paul Maher for Colm McSweeney (49 mins), Peter Nash for Andrew Meade (injured, 53 mins), Josh Dineen for Seán Clancy (68 mins).

WEXFORD: Darragh Brooks; Shane Doyle, Gavin Sheehan, Dylan Furlong; Liam O'Connor, Eoin Porter, Glen Malone; Liam Coleman, Niall Hughes; Pádraig Hughes, Cathal Kehoe, Jack Higgins; Tom Byrne, Mark Rossiter, Seán Nolan. SUBS: Eoghan Nolan for Shane Doyle (half-time), Cian Hughes for Tom Byrne (53 mins), Colin Feeney for Mark Rossiter (67 mins), Ruairí Martin for Glen Malone (67 mins).

REFEREE: Christopher Ryan (Galway).