Limerick 1-8 Waterford 0-11If ever there was a game of two halves this was it as Limerick came from six points adrift at the interval to deservedly force a replay next Saturday evening, reports the Irish Examiner and breakingnews.ie. They did it against a Waterford side who could manage only two points in the second half and both came from frees. Likewise Limerick scored only three points in a first half in which Waterford were very much in control.
James Ryan sparkled in what was his first championship start for Limerick. Waterford picked off the first three points from John Mullane, Seamus Prendergast and Eoin Kelly, a free, all inside eight minutes. Niall Moran, having missed an early free, finally had Limerick off the mark with a point from play but two frees by Kelly made it 0-5 to 0-1 before Seamus Hickey put over a superb Limerick point.
Donie Ryan missed a great goal chance for Limerick but shot wide and Mullane and Moran, free, exchanged points as Waterford remained in firm control. Mullane rounded championship debutant Stephen Walsh twice in succession to strike two more points and Waterford deservedly led by six points, 0-9 to 0-3, as Justin McCarthy was happy to see his side get into the dressing room for a good pep talk.
Whatever he said worked wonders because within three minutes of the restart David Breen hit the only goal of the game after a great break by James Ryan. Breen was brought in after 30 minutes for James O’Brien. That sparked the Limerick revival and Moran and Kelly swapped points. James Ryan and Moran had Limerick points to leave only a score between them and it was all tied up five minutes from the end when Andrew O’Shaughnessy had his only point of the afternoon. Kelly pointed his sixth free to edge Waterford back in front but fittingly James Ryan put over the point which earned a replay.
Limerick made two substitutions at the interval bringing in Denis Moloney for Walsh and Donnacha Sheahan for Donie Ryan. This meant that Brian Geary moved to curb John Mullane who had scored four first half points. But once he was snuffed out in the second half Waterford’s attack was well marshalled and their two points came from frees. Limerick had a few other chances in the second half but bearing in mind the atrocious conditions both sides deserved a second chance to show their true worth.
Scorers: Limerick, N Moran, 0-4 (2f), D Breen, 1-0, J Ryan, 0-2, S Hickey, 0-1, A O’Shaughnessy, 0-1.
Waterford: E Kelly, 0-6, all frees, J Mullane, 0-4, S Prendergast, 0-1.
