Limerick succumb to clinical Westmeath's final quarter surge in Division 3 of National Football League

“DIFFICULT to accept the scoreboard or picking up three hamstring injuries inside 15 minutes, but we just have to get on with it,” was the deflated reaction of Limerick senior football manager Jimmy Lee after his side shipped a heavy 4-21 to 3-8 defeat to Westmeath in the penultimate round of the National League under the showers and squalls of Mullingar's Cusack Park on Sunday afternoon.

Needing a win to ensure Division Three survival in their own hands, Limerick now need not only victory over Fermanagh in next Sunday's final fixture but also results going their way at other venues.

Yet despite the final margin, only three points separated the sides with nine minutes to go. While they failed to make the most of the strong wind at their backs before the break, Limerick hung in doggedly against their opponents' dominance of primary possession and fought back every time they looked like losing contact.

But eventually a litany of injuries including one before the start, two more in the opening minutes, the loss of both midfielders within minutes of the restart and their main striker hobbling off soon after, finally caught up with the Shannonsiders and, faced with an opposition rejigged beyond recognition, Westmeath were able to run riot in the final minutes.

Limerick poured forward straight from the throw-in to get an early advantage from the conditions. The visitors got off the mark with Tony McCarthy's two-pointer effort after two previous moves had been turned over.

However, the Shannonsiders saw it all undone when the next foray broke down and Westmeath streaked forward in numbers for Shane Corcoran to feed Luke Loughlin to slot into the far corner of the net for the game's opening goal.

Finding an edge in midfield, the hosts kept up the pressure on the rattled Limerick rearguard, were denied one goal when Jaffrey Alfred saved off Ronan Wallace and crrated another opportunity when Corcran shot just wide of the upright.

However, after a Brian Cooney point, Westmeath hit the jackpot again when Matthew Whitaker collected a pass and return and picked his spot in the visitors' net.

After Tom Molloy stretched the margin to six points, Limerick finally finally broke from their own half for Darren O'Doherty to have a lash at a two-pointer but, after it dropped short.

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However, Westmeath goalie Jason Daly punched the clearance stringht to Peter Nash who laid off to Shane Cross to stick the ball into the net.

However, the Munster side failed to build on their good fortune as the Midlanders continued to apply the pressue that yeilded points from Whitaker and Loughlin's free.

After Mark McCarthy replied with a two-pointer, Limerick were right back in the hunt on the quarter mark when Nash collected Neville's long delivery, rounded the challenge and slotted the equalising goal beyond Daly's reach.

A sudden burst of hail scaled back the frantic early pace and, when it picked up again, Sam McCartan restored Westmeath's lead, before James Naughton equalised for Limerick.

The Shannonsiders wasted two chances to go ahead and were punished by Kevin O'Sullivan's point which put the home side ahead by 2-6 to 2-5 at half-time.

After containing the Midlanders' attacks, Limerick struck first blood after the restart when Rory O'Brien collected off a line ball to equalise but their shape, already weakened by three enforced substitutions when Seán Clancy joined his original midfield partner Tommie Childs on the treatment bench.

Westmeath immediately exploited the required reoganisation with a Robbie Forde point immediately on his introduction was followed by turning over the next three kickouts for points for Cooney and Loughlin and then Forde, who collected from  Loughlin to bury in the net.

The onslaught subsided once Limerick found their defensive bearings and, given the chance to attack, got themselves back on track when Naughton streaked onto Killian Ryan's pass and blasted to net.

The gap was back to just two points by the three-quater mark after Jack McCarthy's point. However, Brandon Kelly's reply took the steam out of the fightback which was mortally wounded by Ronan Wallace's two-pointer.

Despite a Paul Maher point in reply, Limerick just ran out of gas when Loughlin's point and Wallace, slicing in from the left, whacked home goal number four for Westmeath from a tight angle.

After that, it was one way traffic. McCartan's pointed free, a score from Kelly, two-pointers from Cooney and Wallace and singl points from TJ Cox and Boidu Sayeh piled on the agony as Westmeath worked on maximising their score difference that might decide who gets promoted to Division Two after this coming weekend's final round.

SCORERS: WESTMEATH: Ronan Wallace 1-4 (2 2x), Luke Loughlin 1-3 (1 free), Matthew Whitaker, Robbie Forde 1-1 each, Brian Cooney 0-4 (1 2x), Sam McCartan (1 free), Brandon Kelly 0-2 each, Kevin O'Sullivan, Tom Molloy, TJ Cox, Boidu Sayeh 0-1 each. LIMERICK: James Naughton 1-1 (0-1 free), Shane Cross, Peter Nash 1-0 each, Tony McCarthy (2x), Mark McCarthy (2x) 0-2 each, Rory O'Brien, Jack McCarthy, Paul Maher 0-1 each.

WESTMEATH: Jason Daly; Daniel Scahill, Charlie Drumm, Boidu Sayeh; Ronan wallace, Shane Allen, Matthew Whitaker; Sam McCartan, Jonathan Lynam; Kevin O'Sullivan, Danny McCartan, Brian Cooney; Shane Corcoran, Luke Loughlin, Tom Molloy. SUBS: Robbie Forde for Tom Molloy (41 minutes), Brandon Kelly for Danny McCartan (45 minutes), Eoghan McCabe for Kevin O'Sullivan (57 minutes), Conor Dillon for Shane corcoran (62 minutes), TJ Cox for Jonathan Lynam (65 minutes).

LIMERICK: Jeffrey Alfred; Oran Collins, Darren O'Doherty, Diarmuid Buckley; Conal Ó Duinn, Killian Ryan, Tony McCarthy; Seán Clancy, Tommie Childs; Shane Cross, Cillian Fahy, Eliah Riordan; Danny Neville, James Naughton, Peter Nash. SUBS: Mark McCarthy for Conal Ó Duinn (injured, 4 minutes), Cormac Woulfe for Oran Collins (9 minutes), Rory O'Brien for Tommie Childs (half-time), Jack McCarthy for Seán Clancy (hia, 38 minutes), Colm McSweeney for Tony McCarthy (injured, 47 minutes), Paul Maher for James Naughton (injured, 56 minutes).

REFEREE: Diarmuid Boylan (Monaghan).