Limerick progress in Munster MFC with crucial victory over Waterford

“THOSE two points before half-time got us moving and the goal closed off the result”, was manager John Ryan's description of Limerick minor footballers' march to the Munster semi-final thanks a comfortable 1-8 to 0-5 win over Waterford in their final round-robin tie in Rathkeale's Mick Neville Park on Thursday evening.

Played under dripping rain against opponents needing a mathematical miracle to extend their season, Limerick's error-ridden opening half, in which they conceded 18 frees mostly for technical offences, could have turned on them had the Suirsiders not missed a number of chances to go ahead. But it all came together for Limerick when a lead of one point became a lead of three in the final two minutes before the break.

Once they found their groove, there was no turning back as the outstanding Evan Curry imposed himself in midfield and capped off an imperious performance with one of the most spectacular goals seen in any grade of football eight minutes from time.

And in the end, the scoreline hardly flatters Limerick as they had already missed three goal chances in the preceding minutes swhen they were giving full vent to their dominance.

The next hurdle facing Ryan and his charges is a rerun against Tipperary, decisive winners of their opening round clash, to decide which of them meet Kerry and which of the sides face Cork in the provincial semi-final. Having bounced back from that setback with back-to-back wins over Clare and Waterford, Limerick be hoping they can build on their second-half performance now that the immediate challenge has been overcome.

Curry had Limerick off the mark straight from the throw-in before the game settled down to attritional movement in the middle third and, after pressuring the home defence into overcarrying, Waterford paid for missing a pair of soft frees when Pádraig Murphy raised the first flag in ten minutes when pointing off an extended passing movement.

The Decies finally found their range when Colm Sullivan sent over a free before they then proceeded to miss the next two. That left the margin remaining at the minimum almost to the interval when a sudden burst by the hosts yielded strikes from Kieran O'Kelly and Tommy Glynn to extend their advantage to 0-4 to 0-1.

Hoping to carry on from where they left off, Limerick flooded forward on the restart only to miss a few chances before Curry split the posts from distance. However, that was immediately met by Sullivan from the Suirsiders' first venture from their own half but Limerick continued their attacks as no extended foot could connect with Glynn's skimmer across the face of the goals before Murphy pointed.

Minutes later, the corner-forawrd's outsretched fist was inches wide of the open goal and, after follow-up efforts from Dara Hogan and Adam Murphy were blocked on the line, Curry pointed off the rebound. Sullivan pointed a free in reply before going off injured but then the home side killed off the result when Curry raced onto Glynn's lay-off to volley viciously to the net.

The rest of the subs came on after that, Waterford went in search of a consolation goal but the best they could manage was a Luke English free and Scott Keappock's last kick strike either side of Cillian Meade's reply.

SCORERS: LIMERICK: Evan Curry 1-3, Pádraaig Murphy 0-2 (2 frees), Kieran O'Kelly, Tommy Glynn, Cillian Meade 0-1 each; WATERFORD: Colm Sullivan 0-3 (2 frees), Luke English (free), Scott Keappock 0-1 each.

LIMERICK: Sam Guerin (Kildimo-Pallaskenry); Cian O'Sullivan (Kildimo-Pallaskenry), Callum Buckley (Athea), James Hunt (Athea); Kieran O'Kelly (Croom), Cathal Woulfe (Father Caseys), Sam Colgan (Askeaton-Ballysteen- Kilcornan); Liam Óg Glynn (Ahane), Evan Curry (Athea); Adam Murphy (Father Caseys), Darragh Horgan (Mungret-Saint Paul's), Pádraig Phelan (Pallasgreen); Tommy Glynn (Na Piarsaigh), Andrew Lyons (Newcastlewest), Pádraig Murphy (Askeaton-Ballysteen- Kilcornan). SUBS: Con Kirby (Crecora-Manister) for Kieran O'Kelly (injured, 28 minutes), Cillian Meade (Saint Senan's) for Sam Colgan (half-time), Rory Mullins (Mungret-Saint Paul's) for Darragh Hogan (57 minutes), Ronan O'Connell (Father Caseys) for Andrew Lyons (57 minutes).

WATERFORD: Tommy Mullally (Saint Saviour's); Niall Fahey (Rathgormack), Michael McHugh (Nire), Fintan Walsh (Fenor); Brendan Kelly (Butlerstown), Fergal O'Brien (Gaultier), Shay Kennedy (Gaultier); Darragh Jacob (Saint Saviour's), Seán Prunty (Ballinacourty); Liam Kiersey (Stradbally), Gerard Long (Nire), Darragh Murphy (Fenor); Ben Boland (Saint Saviour's), Ollie Buck (Fenor), Colm Sullivan (Newtown-Ballydurn). SUBS: Jim Brennan (Tramore) for Darragh Jacob (injured, half-time), Corey Scanlon (Ballinameela) for Liam Kiersey (47 minutes), Scott Keappock for Colm Sullivan (injured, 52 minutes), Luke English (Saint Saviour's) for Seán Prunty (injured, 52 minutes), David Nyhan (Brickey Rangers) for Niall Fahey (61 minutes).

REFEREE: Seán Joy (Kerry).