Limerick suffer narrow defeat to Sligo in National Football League clash

“It just didn't go our way today,” admitted manager Jimmy Lee after Limerick senior footballers failed to follow up on their dramatic late victory over Wexford in Division Three of the National League when they went down 1-18 to 1-15 to their hosts Sligo in Markievicz Park on Sunday.

Stung by a goal and a point within a minute of the throw-in, Limerick never got closer than within a point of their opponents in a gripping game that kept the sizeable crowd on their toes right up to the final whistle.

A controversial sending-off just as the visitors were winding up for a final quarter recovery with the stiff breeze at their backs left manager Lee perplexed and a desparate clearance on the Sligo goal line robbed further momentum from his charges' efforts before they were finally beaten by the siren.

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As a result, brief Limerick hopes of a push for promotion were all but ended after dropping five points in their four outings. With a derby against Clare next on the agenda on Saturday evening in Mick Neville Park, the team's focus now returns to collecting enough results to avoid an instant return to Division Four.

Despite the disappointing result, Limerick produced the best overall performance of their season so far as they never lost their focus despite the setbacks. But then again, it was also Sligo's best game by a distance and one they were in dire need of after spectacularly collapsing against Laois the previous weekend.

Under pressure to preserve their lead after the break, Sligo had the courage to go for the high line to press their opponents' kickout and and it ate up enough time on the clock to deliver a result that could justifiably have gone either way.

Bursting forward straight from the throw-in, Sligo were immediately rewarded with a 20-second goal when Cian Lally powered onto a lay-off, ripped through the heart of the defence and blasted beyond Jeffrey Alfred's reach.

Sligo then turned over the resulting kickout for Niall Murphy to point. Getting out of their own half, Limerick drew a foul for Eliah Riordan to punish with a two-pointer, 1-1 to 0-2, but that was overtaken by Murphy free and Lally's two-pointer on the run before the opening burst of Sligo pace finally dialled down.

With both sides closing off space, play entered a tit-for-tat phase coming up to the quarter mark. Limerick's James Naughton answered points from Canice Mulligan and Kyle Cawley.

After St Senan's sharpshooter Naughton tapped over a free, the resulting kickout was turned over and Danny Neville burst onto the lay-off, raced into the space and drilled into the low left corner for a vital Limerick goal.

After Murphy pointed at the end of a Sligo charge from the resulting kickout, Limerick attempts to catapult themselves into the lead were halted by a sudden downpour and, although Barry Coleman found the target when it cleared, Sligo regained the initative with points from Ross Doherty and Murphy's free.

However, in their attempts to build up an enen greater wind-assisted lead before the change of ends, Sligo missed the target with three two-pointer attempts and had to settle for Josh Adams scoring off a sustained attack to leave them leading 1-10 to 1-6 at half-time.

Naughton brought the gap back to three off the first attack after the restart, but the Connacht side struck back on the double through Alan McLoughlin from a free and from play.

Back came Limerick and the visitors claimed their first return from the wind with Riordan's 50-metre free. However, the hosts were also getting a boost from the elements as their height advantage in midfield allowed them to mop up the kickouts hanging in the breeze.

After Murphy and Peter Nash swapped points coming up to the three-quarter mark, their cause was further helped by the referee overturning a Limerick free for a breach on the advice of one of his linesmen which resulted in Seán Clancy being sent off for collecting a black card in addition to an earlier yellow.

With ten minutes to go, a point from Luke Towey and two from McLoughlin has the Westerners leading by six points. However, that gap could have halved had Cillian Fahy's fisted effort on a high dropping ball on the edge of the small square not been scrambled off the line by Jack Lavin's outstretched foot.

Winding themselves up for one last assault, Limerick pulled back two points with a monster Naughton effort from out left and another two points with an even longer Riordan free.

However, Sligo's Shane Deignan's hit back with a point on the break which sucked enough life from the last gasp rally to limit the game-ending scores to Naughton and Murphy swapping frees.

SCORERS: SLIGO: Niall Murphy 0-6 (4 frees), Cian Lally 1-2 (0-2 1 2x), Alan McLoughlin 0-4 (1 free), Canice Mulligan, Kyle Cawley, Jason Flynn, Ross Doherty, Luke Towey, Shane Deignan 0-1 each; LIMERICK: James Naughton 0-7 (1 2x, 3 frees), Eliah Riordan 0-6 (3 2x frees), Danny Neville 1-0, Barry Coleman, Peter Nash (free) 0-1 each.

SLIGO: Aidan Devaney; Tommy Ross, Evan Lyons, Luke Casserly. Luke Towey, Jack Lavin, Ross Doherty; Canice Mulligan, Gavin Gorman; Luke Gilmartin, Alan McLoughlin, Kyle Cawley; Cian Lally, Niall Murphy, Josh Flynn. SUBS: Lee Deignan for Kyle Cawley (46 minutes), Luke Gilmartin for Ross Doherty (54 minutes), Shane Deignan for Josh Flynn (58 minutes).

LIMERICK: Jeffrey Alfred; Jason Hassett; Colm McSweeney, Oran Collins; Diarmuid Buckley, Killian Ryan, Tony McCarthy; Barry Coleman, Cillian Fahy; Paul Maher, Danny Neville, Eliah Riordan; Seán Clancy, James Naughton, Bob Childs. SUBS: Peter Nash for Colm McSweeney (half-time), Mark McCarthy for Barry Coleman (half-time), Jack McCarthy for Paul Maher (half-time).

REFEREE: Enda McFeely (Donegal).