Clare ease to final round victory against Limerick in Division 2 dead rubber

Clare have Cork in the Munster quarter-final on April 9 with the winner to take on Limerick a fortnight later in the provincial last four.

Limerick’s demoralising time in the second tier of the National Football League came to an end on Sunday afternoon with a comprehensive defeat to Clare in Cusack Park.

The hosts powered to victory in Ennis to leave fifteen points between the teams at the final whistle as Limerick conclude their campaign without a victory.

There was little on offer for Clare, whose relegation, like Limerick’s, was confirmed in round six with both now turning their attention to the beginning of the Munster championship next month.

Clare have Cork in the quarter-final on April 9 with the winner to take on Limerick a fortnight later in the provincial last four.

The writing was on the wall for Limerick in the first half which ended 0-11 to 0-3 in the visitors’ favour which could have been worse only for the exploits of Donal O’Sullivan.

James Naughton, Killian Ryan and Peter Nash were the only Limerick players to find the target in the opening period that saw Clare finally hit top gear to conclude seven years in the second tier.

Naughton led an early second-half fightback, grabbing three on the trot to reduce the margin to five points with a half an hour to play.

Yet, any hopes of a Limerick comeback were dashed when Adrian Enright was shown a straight red card while Mark McInerney netted at the other end within the space of 90 seconds.

That pulled Clare 1-11 to 0-6 clear which was compounded to a 15-point margin in injury time with UL trio Emmet McMahon, Aaron Griffin and Ciaran Downes striking the final nails into the coffin with the latter grabbing their second goal.

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