Coasting Limerick ease up long enough to give Galway brief sight of a win

National Hurling League, Division 1A: Galway 0-19 Limerick 0-24

Out of the blue, the outcome was in dispute for five or 10 minutes near the end. Having been out-flanked for three quarters of the game, Galway mustered a spasm of resistance that briefly brought them within two points of the All-Ireland champions. Whatever the numbers tried to claim, it didn’t seem sustainable. Limerick’s cruising speed out-strips all their rivals, and at this time of the year no other speed matters.

Limerick will be irritated about their fade-out in the fourth quarter, having been so much in control up to that point, but they rattled off the last three scores of the game when they needed to come up with something. That pattern of behaviour is long established now.

Other patterns are familiar too. Limerick’s discipline is always liable to fray around the edges, and Kyle Hayes should have been sent off on a straight red for an incident five minutes from the end of normal time. After an entanglement with Brian Concannon near the side line Hayes swung back with his hurley and caught the Galway forward flush on the face guard. Hayes had already been booked, but that was neither here nor there: the offence merited a straight red card.

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When it was put to John Kiely afterwards that there had been clear contact his first line of defence had an element of plea-bargaining. “In what context? There is a context as well. I’ve no doubt there was contact there but what was the context? How did it come about? We’ll have to wait and see.

“I saw it from whatever width the pitch is, 85 or 90 metres. Kyle’s back was to me – all I could see was him going like that [putting his arm/hurley back] – and he was looking out at the terrace. I don’t know, I’ll have to see it back again.”

Four minutes later, Hayes made one of his characteristic raids down the left flank, and was fouled for the free that put Limerick three points in front, but it would be fanciful to suggest that the game hinged on the decision not to send him off. When the game was suddenly in the balance Limerick raised their levels of engagement again, and kicked on.

Galway will take something from their fight back in the middle of the second half, but they were unable to land a glove on Limerick for much of the game. Henry Shefflin made three changes at half time, attaching some jump leads to Galway’s attack, but Conor Whelan and Concannon took a long time to get going, and the prohibitive odds of chasing down a seven-point deficit against Limerick have not changed significantly over the last three or four years.

Without being stretched, or stressed, Limerick dominated the first half. Against the breeze Galway struggled desperately to win their own puck-outs, and yet persisted with going long, more often than not. They had nothing to gain from that.

Hayes picked up where he had left off against Clare, and was imperious down the left flank. By half time he had landed three points from three long range shots; in front of Hayes, Tom Morrissey’s numbers were precisely the same in the first half, and he finished the game with five from play in a terrific performance.

Galway couldn’t establish safe corridors for the ball inside the Limerick half, and the All-Ireland champions consistently built attacks from their full back line without any significant pressure on the ball. Hayes was constantly available as an out-ball, and Limerick had no compunction about making a couple of lateral passes, the width of the field, to find him.

Limerick led by 0-14 to 0-7 at half time, and were eight points clear 15 minutes into the second half after Shane O’Brien, their really impressive teenager, landed his second point of the game.

They only scored twice, though, in the next 15 minutes, and led by Tom Monaghan and Conor Cooney, Galway sourced some gumption and momentum. Only a Kevin Cooney point interrupted a sequence of seven scores by Conor Cooney, and they were just two behind when Cooney landed his 12th score, four minutes from the end of normal time.

But they really needed a goal in a game when neither team mustered so much as a goal chance. Kevin Cooney tried a shot from about 20 metres in the closing minutes but it was straight at Nickie Quaid, who stunned it easily. No alarms.

Galway: D Fahy, TJ Brennan, G McInerney, J Grealish, J Cooney, P Mannion, T Killeen, S Linnane 0-1, T Monaghan (0-3), C Fahy (0-1), J Flynn, C Cooney (0-12, 0-9 frees), D O’Shea, K Cooney (0-2), M McManus. Subs: C Whelan for O’Shea (h-t); B Concannon for Flynn (h-t); D Morrissey for Grealish (h-t); L Collins for McManus 67 mins.

Limerick: N Quaid, S Finn, R English, B Nash, C Barry, D Morrissey, K Hayes (0-3), D O’Donovan, W O’Donoghue, T Morrissey (0-8, 0-3 frees), C Lynch (0-3), M Houlihan (0-4 frees), S O’Brien (0-2), S Flanagan (0-1), P Casey (0-2). Subs: C Boylan for Houlihan 45 mins; G Hegarty for Lynch 58 mins; A English for O’Donoghue 60 mins; D O’Dalaigh 0-1 for Flanagan 67 mins.

Referee: Sean Stack (Clare).