Limerick edge Waterford in Minor Football opener

A late Calvin Moran sealed a deserved 1-10 to 0-9 win for Limerick’s minor footballers last night over a dogged Waterford team at the Gaelic Grounds last evening.

Both sides struggled to gain any momentum at the onset of the game with Waterford opening the scoring in the sixth minute courtesy of a Sean Whelan-Barrett free.

The crowd would have to wait until the 12th minute to see a Limerick score, with Karl Moloney levelling the game for the hosts.

Limerick then began to settle and would knock over the next three points to hold a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after 18 minutes of play.

Things would get worse then for the visitors as they had a man sent of in the 20th minute with referee David Grogan of Tipperary reaching for the red card for what appears to be a strike on a Limerick player.

Limerick then pushed on with their numerical advantage and scores from Noel Callanan, Sean Ryan and Niall McAuliffe saw Limerick take a 0-7 to 0-2 point lead into the break with them.

Both sides settled quickly into the second half with both sides scorning a brace of points each in the opening minutes of the second period.

Then Waterford notched two quick fire points to reduce the deficit to 0-9 to 0-6 with over 20 minutes remaining. Rory O’Brien replied for Limerick to stretch the gap back out to four, but the Deise’s Tom Barron soon cancelled out this score.

Waterford rallied once more and despite being a man down kicked a further three scores in a row to bring the gap down to the bare minimum with 8 minutes to play.

Limerick replied in fine style to deny their opponents any more scores with Calvin Moran goaling on the stroke of full time to seal Limerick’s win.

Limerick now advance to the Munster Semi Final where they know they will have to improve if they are to advance to a first Munster final since 1998.

However, these young lads showed enough promise to suggest they can make their mark in the championship.

SCORERS: Limerick: Calvin Moran 1-0; Noel Callanan 0-3; Sean Ryan; Niall McAuliffe (0-1 free) Rory O’Brien (0-2 frees) 0-2 each; Karl Moloney 0-1;

Waterford: Tom Barron (0-2 frees); Sean Whelan-Barrett (0-3 frees) 0-3 each; Mark Twomey (0-1 free), Darragh O’Keeffe 0-1, Brian Lynch 0-1 each

LIMERICK: Cian Walsh (St Senans); Mark Quinlan (Galbally), Eoin Burke (St Kierans), Cillian Ferris (Ballysteen); Padraig Power (Rathkeale), Jack Fitzgerald (Adare), James Cummins (Galbally); Karl Moloney (Crecora), Liam Kennedy (St Kierans); Barry Coleman (Rathkeale), Noel Callanan (St Kierans), Rory O’Brien (Fr Caseys); David Burke (Mungret), Sean Ryan (Athea), Colm Moran (Mungret). Subs: Niall McAuliffe (Newcastle West) for Colm Moran (5); Paul Collins (Crecora) for Niall McAuliffe (35); Calvin Moran (St Patricks) for Sean Ryan (40); Adam Costelloe (Banogue) for Barry Coleman (52)

WATERFORD: Aaron Beresford; Michael Horgan, Shane Ahern, Dale Cullinane; Sam Murphy-Nix, Mark Twomey, Conor Kilgannon; Mick Devine, Conor Cullihane; Billy Power, Dan Booth, Sean Whelan-Barrett; Stephen Curry, Darragh O’Keeffe, Tom Barron. Subs: Brian Lynch for Dan Booth (39); David Montgomery for Stephen Curry (46); Jack Walsh for Darragh O’Keeffe (54)

REFEREE: David Grogan (Tipperary)