Electric Ireland Munster MHC: Clare impress against Limerick:

Electric Ireland Munster MHC: Clare impress against Limerick:

Electric Ireland Munster MHC round 3

Clare 0-15 Limerick 0-9

All-Ireland champions Clare returned to the summit of the Electric Ireland Munster MHC round-robin table with a six-point victory over Limerick at Sixmilebridge.

It looked like being a far from straightforward task when they suffered the loss of full-forward Marc O’Brien, their free-taker and only remaining starter from last year, to a worrying leg injury in the opening minutes.

Limerick were able to close the gap to one heading into the final quarter but they never mustered a score from play against the Banner defence, allowing the hosts to reel off the final five points to back up their opening win over Waterford.

Clare were never headed in the first half with Matthew Corbett stepping up to the frees to construct a 0-9 to 0-6 half-time lead. The Clooney-Quin midfielder would end with 0-8 (6 frees).

Limerick still clawed their way back to a point behind, 0-10 to 0-9, thanks to the free-taking of their joint-captains Diarmuid Hurley (0-6) and Jack Cosgrave (0-3).

There was no score for a dozen minutes before Clare clinched it with two points each from Corbett and Paul Rodgers before Harry Doherty added the final score. Doherty also won a late penalty but Corbett sent it wide.