Limerick book league semi-final berth with comfortable victory against Wexford

John Kiely’s men will have Tipperary for company in the league semi-final after seeing off the challenge of Wexford today.

Goals from Kyle Hayes and Aaron Gillane in either half powered Limerick into the last four of the National Hurling League this afternoon as they saw off Wexford

It finished 2-20 to 0-15 in the TUS Gaelic Grounds with Limerick to face Tipperary in the league semi-final next weekend.

Limerick were 1-10 to 0-7 to the good at the interval following a first half where they dominated in all sectors.

The first score of the game came from the hurl of Richie English, the corner back dovetailing with his opposite corner Mike Casey in the second minute. Aaron Gillane and Diarmaid Byrnes followed suit shortly after with Limerick slick in the opening exchanges.

Byrnes had three by the seventh minute with Lee Chin offering a pair of replies from placed balls.

The gap was stretched to six on the stroke of the ten-minute mark, firstly Cathal O’Neill showing his turn of pace before feeding Kyle Hayes who powered into the 13 and buried to the corner of the net, 1-5 to 0-2.

But Limerick couldn’t add to their tally squandering a pair of good goal opportunities with Chin eating into the lead with frees. He would finish the half with six of their seven scores with Ian Carthy the only Wexford man to trouble the scoreboard from play in the first half.

Meanwhile Limerick had seven scorers in the first half with Micheal Houlihan, Gearoid Hegarty and Cathal O’Neill ratling off three in a row nearing the half-hour mark.

A pair form Chin closed out the first period with Limerick leading by six. Carty had his second on the resumption but the game was put beyond doubt from the next attack, a dropping Cathal O’Neill shot, rebounding off the crossbar, hitting Gillane on the leg and just rolling over the line.

And not to be outdone by English earlier, Mike Casey added a collector’s item shortly after, slotting over from distance after fetching a Nickie Quaid puck out.

The sides traded the next six scores to leave it 2-14 to 0-11 with fifteen to play as the intensity levels dropped off, both teams guilty of easy misses in the rain.

Tom Morrissey scored immediately after coming on, a textbook score over his shoulder on the left wing. Oisin O’Reilly made a similar impact off the bench, with Chin taking his total to ten on the hour mark.

Donnacha O’Dalaigh become the third Limerick substitute to score, finding the target heading into injury time to make it 2-18 to 0-15. O’Dalaigh then had the final score of the game, his second, as Limerick sailed into the league semi-final.

Scorers for Limerick: Aaron Gillane (1-5, 5frees), Diarmaid Byrnes (0-4, 2 frees), Kyle Hayes (1-0) Tom Morrissey (0-2, f), Donnacha O’Dalaigh ( 0-2), Richie English, Cathal O’Neill, Gearoid Hegarty, Micheal Houlihan, Seamus Flanagan, Oisin O’Reilly (0-1)

LIMERICK: Nickie Quaid; Mike Casey, Dan Morrissey, Richie English; Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Kyle Hayes; Barry Murphy, Darragh O’Donovan; Micheal Houlihan, Cathal O’Neill, Gearoid Hegarty; Aaron Gillane, Seamus Flanagan, Conor Boylan.

Subs used: Donnacha O’Dalaigh for Gillane and Tom Morrissey for Houlihan (54), Oisin O’Reilly for Boylan and Colin Coughlan for Byrnes (61), Aidan O’Connor for Hegarty (68)

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