Limerick footballers defeated by Kerry in Munster semi-final

Limerick 1-2
Kerry 1-19

Limerick’s minor footballers season ended in defeat at the hands of Kerry, in the Electric Ireland Munster Minor Football Championship semi-final. The clash, played in Newcastle West, saw Limerick come up short despite a decent start against the formidable Kingdom.

There was a bright start for Limerick who found the net through Padraic Murphy on 21 minutes. But that was as good as it got as Kerry showed their quality, and ran off a string of scores.

The visitors led 0-6 to 1-1 at half-time, with scores from Paddy Lane and Dara Hogan helping them take the lead late in the half.

There was two red cards shown to Limerick during a frustrating second-half. Aidan O’Shea received a second yellow from referee James O’Regan, while sub Rory Mullins was shown a straight red card late in the contest.

Limerick wouldn’t score until the final quarter, with Kerry picking off their scores at ease. Lane and Hogan were central, while full-back Ben Murphy and sub Stephen Gannon found the target. Gannon put his hand up for a Munster final start, contributing five points from the bench. Kerry led 0-14 to 1-2 by the time Eoghan Beston found the target for the boys in green.

The goal, late on from Hogan added gloss to a well rounded Kingdom display.

For Limerick, the curain comes down on a season which saw them win three games in a row, against Clare, Waterford and Tipperary, in the Phase One success.

Scorers for Limerick: P Murphy 1-0; S Guerin (’45), E Beston 0-1 each.
Scorers for Kerry: P Lane 0-7 (0-2f); D Hogan 1-3; S Gannon 0-5; D O’Keeffe, B Murphy, E Boyle, J Hoare (’45) 0-1 each.

Limerick: S Guerin; C O’Sullivan, C Buckley, C Costelloe; L Óg Glynn, C Woulfe, K O’Kelly; A O’Shea, E Curry; A Lyons, P Phelan, P Murphy; A Murphy, D Hogan, T Glynn.

Subs: E Beston for Hogan (half-time), C Meade for Buckley (inj – 33), R O’Connell for Lyons (36), R O’Connell for Lyons (36), R Mullins for O’Kelly (48), R Allen for Óg Glynn (56).

Kerry: J Hoare; D Mulvihill, B Murphy, I Brosnan; P Moynihan, K O’Shea, G Evans; E Boyle (C), D Kirby; D O’Keeffe, T Kennedy, S Ó Cuinn; A Carey, D Hogan, P Lane.

Subs: S Gannon for Carey (36), J Moynihan for Moynihan (45 mins), R Carroll for Lane (49), C O’Connor for Mulvihill (52 mins), P Walsh for Kennedy (56).

Referee: J Regan (Cork).