McCarthy's Limerick earns draw against the Deise

Limerick 1-8 Waterford 0-11

If 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.

Shock win for Antrim over Donegal

Donegal 0-12 Antrim 1-10

Antrim created a sensation at Ballybofey today with a shock Ulster SFC win, their first against Donegal since 1970.

A Tomas McCann goal in the 57th minute gave the Saffrons the belief that they could end the drought, and they celebrated with their supporters as they booked a semi-final date with Cavan.

A misfiring Donegal side hit 18 wides, and just couldn't shake off Antrim's gutsy challenge, which gave them their first provincial championship win since 2002.

Council downplays reports of housing ban for Moyross residents

A Fianna Fáil councillor told voters in the Limerick town of Askeaton that he had a ‘‘definite guarantee’’ that no one from the troubled Moyross area of Limerick city would be allocated a new council house in the town.

Kevin Sheahan made the promise in a letter to constituents three days before the local and European elections on June 5. He was reelected to Limerick County Council, reports the Sunday Business Post today.

In his letter on council headed notepaper, Sheahan wrote: ‘‘Like all communities, there are serious concerns in Askeaton. So let me deal with the first one: I have received a very definite guarantee that there will not be any people coming from Moyross or any other part of Limerick city to the new council houses in Church Street.”

However, Eugene Griffin, the council secretary, said that ‘‘the policy of excluding persons from any particular area is illegal, and no such policy exists in county Limerick or nationally. Therefore, no such guarantee was provided to Councillor Sheahan,” he said, adding that the views expressed in the letter did not necessarily reflect the views of the local authority.

Sheahan, who got 49 per cent of the vote in Askeaton in the local elections, said he sent the letters because of concerns raised on the doorsteps that the 23 council houses in Askeaton were being allocated as part of the Limerick regeneration scheme. Some 250 homes in Moyross and other areas of Limerick are being demolished as part of the €3.1 billion regeneration project, designed to help tackle crime and poverty in the city.