Allianz National Hurling League – Division 1B
Limerick 1-36 Antrim 1-9
When Antrim corner forward Fred McCurry scored Antrim’s goal in the 18th minute of Sunday’s National Hurling League game against Limerick in Thurles, to give the Saffrons a two point lead, there were those among the travelling Antrim fans who dared to dream. However reality soon set in for the small group of Saffron followers and from then until the end it was all one way traffic as the masterful All Ireland champions gave an exhibition, despite only fielding a side which was well short of last September’s All Ireland winning unit.
The trouble for the opposition in situations like this is that the new kids on the block want to take the opportunity to show John Keily and his selectors just what they are capable of when given the chance and that is exactly what happened.
Antrim took an early two-point lead but Limerick soon overturned it with points with three quick points. Still when Fred McCurry fired in a goal on eighteen minutes things looked ok for the visitors, but the might Limerick machine hit back to score nine of the next 10 points to take complete control of the contest.
With Ó Dálaigh and English ruling the roost in front of goal the men in green piled on the pressure and by half time they were o-16 to 1-7 in front.
Antrim will have been pleased enough to be just six in arrears at the break but a well taken goal from English just after the restart dealt the Antrim men a bad body blow and they began to rattle off the scores
English, Hegarty and Micheál Houlihan then fired over points for the All Ireland as Antrim struggled to keep pace with their class opponents and the Treaty men soon had the gap out to fifteen -1-22 to 1-7.
To their credit the outclassed Antrim men kept battling away, but Limerick were just too strong and pushed on to win by 25 points in the end.
Next week the Saffron host Dublin in Corrigan Park and team manager Darren Gleeson will be hoping that some of his long list of injured players will be available for selection.
Limerick: J Power; F O’Connor, D Morrissey, A Costello; D Byrnes, D Reidy (0-2, 1f), M Quinlan (0-1); B Murphy, C Coughlan; G Hegarty (0-3), C O’Neill (0-3), C Boylan; D Ó Dálaigh (0-7), S O’Brien (1-5), A English (0-10, 6f). Subs: M Houlihan (0-2) for Boylan (h-t), E Hurley for Byrnes (h-t), J Fitzgerald for Murphy (45), G Mulcahy (0-2) for English (51), P O’Donovan (0-1f) for Hegarty (61 blood), E McEvoy for O’Connor (63).
Antrim: T Smyth; P Duffin, R McCloskey, P Burke; S Walsh (0-1), R McGarry, C Boyd; S Rooney, N O’Connor (0-2); R McMullen (0-1f), A O’Brien, C McCann; C Cunning (0-4f), A Bradley (0-1), F McCurry (1-0). Subs: E Trainor for Rooney (48), C McGarry for McCann (52), J McLaughlin for Bradley (52), R McAteer for O’Brien (64), N McGarrel for McMullen (68 mins).
