Allianz HL D1A: Limerick survive against gritty Galway
Cathal O'Neill, Limerick, and Cian Daniels, Galway, in Allianz Hurling League action. Photo by John Sheridan/Sportsfile
Allianz Hurling League Division 1A
Limerick 2-27 Galway 0-31
By Tom Clancy at TUS Gaelic Grounds
Limerick set up an exciting Allianz Hurling League Division 1A final meeting with Cork thanks to a narrow and tense two-point victory over Galway on home soil.
It will be the chance of dethroning Cork and also collecting a 15th title, but they were very close to missing out after Galway staged a remarkable revival to come from 11 points down to within a whisker of winning this with a late free.
Aaron Gillane and Cathal O’Neill combined for 2-10 of the winning total, while Cathal Mannion, Aaron Nilland and Darragh Neary all played their part in a revival for the Tribesmen.
It was a proverbial game of two halves in which Limerick led 1-16 to 0-9 at the interval. The was largely the reason they prevailed and made it five victories on the bounce to top the table.
After a sluggish start, Limerick went from 0-5 to 0-1 down to move well clear as David Reidy, Aaron Gillane and Gearoid Hegarty all contributed to turning that around while the goal from O’Neill punished Galway’s poor second quarter.
He raced on to intercept a pass, and sprinted from the 65m line to the 20m line, before unleashing a piledriver to the net.
Adam English, who chipped in with three first half points almost got a second goal on the stroke of half-time, but Darach Fahy saved the ball over the crossbar to end the half.
A trio of subs issued by Michaél Donoghue seemed to spark the revival as Colm Molloy, Darragh Neary and Brian Concannon were among those to score after the restart.
More than 12,000 supporters paid in to the TUS Gaelic Grounds and they were to witness an unlikely second half fightback from Galway – who now must wait until mid-April for their next competitive outing, which is against Kilkenny.
Cathal Mannion led the charge but so too did youngsters Jason Rabbitte and Aaron Niland who helped cut the gap to two points late on. A run of five in just five minutes between 55 and 60 minutes were key here.
Just when it seemed they may haul the contest level Limerick stuck a huge blow. Gillane’s instinctive green flag pushed the gap back out, he whipped on a ball which rebounded off the post.
Hunting a late goal, it failed to arrive as Cathal Mannion’s free was deflected for a 65.
Scorers for Limerick: Cathal O’Neill 1-6; Aaron Gillane 1-4; Aidan O’Connor 0-5 (3fs); Adam English 0-4; Gearoid Hegarty 0-3; David Reidy 0-2; Donnacha Ó Dálaigh 0-2; Ethan Hurley 0-1.
Scorers for Galway: Aaron Niland 0-10 (8fs); Cathal Mannion, Jason Rabbitte 0-4 each; Darragh Neary 0-3; Thomas Monaghan
Colm Molloy, Conor Whelan 0-2 each; Padraic Mannion, Ronan Glennon, Tiernan Killeen, Brian Concannon 0-1each.
Limerick: Nickie Quaid; Seán Finn, Darragh Langan, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes, William O’Donoghue, Kyle Hayes; Adam English, Cian Lynch (Capt); Gearóid Hegarty, Aidan O’Connor, Cathal O’Neill; Aaron Gillane, Shane O’Brien, David Reidy.Subs: Donnacha Ó Dálaigh for O’Brien (half-time); Ethan Hurley for Lynch (temp 39 – 43); Hugh Flanagan for Hegarty (56); Mike Casey for Nash (62); Paddy O’Donovan for O’Connor (64); Colin Coughlan for Byrnes (69).Galway: Darach Fahy; Joshua Ryan, Cillian Trayers, Darren Morrissey (c); Ronan Glennon, Padraic Mannion, Cianan Fahy; TJ Brennan, Cian Daniels; Thomas Monaghan, Cathal Mannion, Tiernan Killeen; Conor Whelan, Jason Rabbitte, Aaron Niland.Subs: Shane Morgan for Morrissey, Darragh Neary for C Fahy, Colm Molloy for Brennan (all half-time); Brian Concannon for Monaghan (48); Sean Linnane for Glennon (67).Referee: Chris Mooney (Dublin).
