LIMERICK’S senior hurlers remain unbeaten in the Allianz Hurling League after seeing off Dublin in a one-sided match at the Gaelic Grounds last Saturday.
John Kiely’s side were too good all over the park for a Dublin side that never came close to troubling Limerick.
Patrickswell’s Aaron Gillane top scored for Limerick with 1-9, his goal coming from a penalty in the 23rd minute. Feohanagh’s Seamus Flanagan enhanced his reputation at this level with another impressive performance.
Elsewhere, Declan Hannon cruised through the 70 plus minutes on his return to the team after a hamstring injury, while Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey and David Reidy also shone.
Limerick travel to Antrim this weekend in their second last game of the 2018 campaign. A quarter-final place is already secured, but Kiely warned post-game that the Antrim game will provide a real test as he is set to be without his UL contingent.
That could mean that Limerick could be without five of the team that played against Dublin as Finn, Gearoid Hegarty, Tom Morrissey, Barry Murphy and Pat Ryan have all seen some action with UL in this season’s Fitzgibbon Cup.
Na Piarsaigh’s Ronan Lynch and Mike Casey (unavailable for Limerick due to club commitments) could also feature for Gary Kirby’s side.
Scorers – Limerick: Aaron Gillane 1-9 (1-0 pen, 0-7 frees), David Reidy 0-4 (0-1 free), Tom Morrissey, Diarmaid Byrnes (0-1 free) and Seamus Flanagan 0-3 each, Gearoid Hegarty 0-2, Pat Ryan and Barry O’Connell 0-1 each; Dublin: Donal Burke 0-6 (0-6 frees), Danny Sutcliffe 0-5, Conal Keaney 0-2, Cian Boland, Fergal Whitely, Eoghan O’Donnell and Fiontan McGibb 0-1 each.
Limerick: Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Seamus Hickey, Richie English; Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Dan Morrissey; Paul Browne, Cian Lynch; Gearoid Hegarty, Tom Morrissey, David Reidy; Aaron Gillane, Seamus Flanagan, Barry Murphy; Subs: Tom Condon for English (h-t), Pat Ryan for Gillane (48 mins), Oisin O’Reilly for Murphy (54 mins), Barry O’Connell for Hegarty (57 mins), Richie McCarthy for Hickey (66 mins).
Dublin: Alan Nolan; Paddy Smyth, Bill O’Carroll, Eoghan O’Donnell; Shane Barrett, Chris Crummey, Tomas Connolly; Cian McBride, Niall McMorrow; Fiontan McGibb, Fergal Whitely, Danny Sutcliffe; Conal Keaney, Cian Boland, Donal Burke. Subs: Sean Ó Riain for C McBride (24 mins), Darren Kelly for O’Carroll (h-t), Rónán Ó Haodha for McMorrow (h-t), Liam Rushe for Boland (h-t), James Martin for Connolly (70 mins).
Referee: Johnny Ryan (Tipperary)
