Clinical Effin score emphatic Limerick premier intermediate hurling championship win over Glenroe

EFFIN made it two wins from three in this year's Lyons of Limerick premier intermediate hurling championship group stages when easing past Glenroe 1-17 to 0-7 in Kilmallock on Thursday evening.

“We had targeted two wins out of our opening three and getting those four points despite losing our first game takes a lot of the pressure off us going into the three-week break,” were manager Adrian Barrett's thoughts after a powerful second-half display delivered Effin's comprehensive victory.

Although they dominated most sectors of the field throughout the hour, Effin made life difficult for themselves by shooting eight wides before a flurry of scores gave them enough of a lead by half-time to build on after the break.

Once again, they found leadership in current county squad members Nickie Quaid, Patrick O'Donovan and Fergal O'Connor to win enough possession in the middle for their font men to rack up the scores.

Despite some scintillating runs by O'Donovan into the opposing defence, it wasn't so much a performance of brilliance but rather one of concentrated consistency that had the result all but assured by the three-quarter mark before adding the trimmings at the end.

Glenroe gave it their best shot for as long as they were let, matching their opponents score for score over the opening 20 minutes, but they just didn't have those touches of brilliance to call on when the gap started to move out of view. Two defeats out of two not only leaves them struggling to make the top four but their back match on Sunday week against Na Piarsaigh now has added significance in the fight to avoid relegation.

SCORERS: EFFIN: Paddy O'Donovan 0-11 (5 frees), Jack Quaid 1-0, Fergal O'Connor, Nickie Quaid 0-2 each, Cillian O'Riordan, Ruairí O'Connor 0-1 each; GLENROE: Mark O'Connell 0-3 (3 frees), Zach McCarthy 0-2, Darren Frewen, Seán Clancy 0-1 each.

EFFIN: James O'Leary; Mark Mullins, Alan Byrne, Seán Canning; Michael Rea, Clive Doherty, Feargal O'Connor; Nickie Quaid, Cillian O'Riordan; Ruairí O'Connor, Jack Quaid, Ewan Dillon; Paddy O'Donovan, Tommy Quaid, Pierse O'Kelly. SUB: Conor Kearney for Michael Rea (injured, 27 minutes),

GLENROE: David McCarthy; Bob Frewen, Jordan Sheehy, Shane O'Donoghue; Brian O'Connell, Shaun Moloney, Darren Carroll; Oisín Browne, Liam Dennehy; Seán Clancy, Ciarán Kelly, Pádraig McGrath; Zach McCarthy, Mark O'Connell, Darren Frewe. SUBS: Moss O'Brien for Liam Dennehy (42 minutes), Cillian O'Brien for Ciarán Kelly (52 minutes), Darren McCarthy for Bob Frewen (59 minutes), Eoin Gallahue for Darren Carroll (59 minutes).

REFEREE: Paddy Lyons (Staker Wallaces).