18 April 2011
Antrim's slim hopes of qualifying for the Division Two National Hurling League final came to an abrupt end at Loughgiel on Sunday when they were comprehensively beaten by a slick moving Limerick side who were full value for their four goal winning margin.
The visitors led by 1-6 to 0-2 down after 15 minutes as Antrim struggled to keep pace with a sharp Limerick outfit, though they did cut the arrears as McManus sent over two more frees and Barry McFall struck a fine score from play. Hoever Liverick produced a strong finish to the first-half as excellent points from Sean Tobin and Declan Hannon put them 1-10 to 0-7 clear at the break.
With the light breeze at their back in the second-half the Antrim fans must surely have hoped for a second-half improvement but it never materialised as Limerick soon stretched their lead with a well taken goal from Sean Tobin.
Antrim had a little spell of dominance which brought two McManus points from frees and two neat efforts from Barry McFall and Simon McCrory but the comeback was brief as Limerick again finished strong with two goals from full-forward Sean Downes to complete their league campaign unbeaten.
In this form Limerick will be strong favourites to beat Clare in the Division 2 final in two weeks time. As for Antrim they have four weeks to recover before their championship opener against Laois in Portaoise. It goes without saying that a vast improvement will be needed if they are to have any chance in that game.
SCORERS -- Limerick: K Downes 3-0, D Hannon 0-6 (1f), S Tobin 1-1, P Browne (2f), R MacCarthy (1f), J Ryan 0-2 each, E Reale, W McNamara 0-1 each. Antrim: N McManus 0-9 (9f), B McFall 0-3, S McCrory, C McGuinness, K Stewart 0-1 each.
Limerick -- N Quaid ; T Condon , S Lucey , D Reale ; D Breen , S Hickey , W McNamara ; D O'Grady , P Browne ; D Hannon , R McCarthy , J Ryan ; S Tobin , K Downes , G Mulcahy . Subs: M O'Riordan for D O'Grady, N Moran for J Ryan, E Reale for P Browne, P McNamara for R MacCarthy, B Geary for S Hickey.
Antrim -- S Hawes ; N McAuley ; K McGourty , K Molloy ; A Graffin , M Herron , C Herron ; K Stewart , S McNaughton ; P Shiels , S McCrory , K McKeegan , M Armstrong , N McManus , B McFall . Subs: J Black for S McCrory, M Donnelly for K Stewart, S Shannon for C Herron, C McGuinness for K McKeegan.
REF -- E Hasson (Derry).
