Limerick pull away in second half to see off Antrim in senior hurling challenge:

Limerick pull away in second half to see off Antrim in senior hurling challenge:

Munster champions Limerick defeated Antrim 1-31 to 0-21 at UL on Friday evening

By Paul Shaughnessy Limerick Leader Sport

THE LIMERICK senior hurlers continued their Allianz League preparations on Friday evening as John Kiely’s side defeated Antrim 1-31 to 0-21 in a challenge game at the University of Limerick’s North Campus 4G pitch.

Manager John Kiely fielded an experimental line-up which included players who impressed in the club hurling championship, while seven players has featured in Limerick’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Cork.

Patrick O’Donovan and Ethan Hurley were some of the new faces to impress for the Shannonsiders in the Castletroy venue.

Antrim made the long trip down to Limerick on Friday evening with the Saffrons looking to push on under new manager Davy Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is into his first year in charge of the Antrim senior hurling team.

Limerick raced into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after two minutes when the full forward line of Patrick O’Donovan, Shane O’Brien and Donnacha Ó Dálaigh all registered early scores.

Antrim battled back through centre half forward James McNaughton and he pushed the Ulster side 0-6 to 0-5 ahead on 11 minutes.

Newcastle West clubman Con Hayes then played a clever pass inside to Shane O’Brien and he made no mistake from close range to level matters for the second time.

The sides then traded scores, before Adam English and Ó Dálaigh combined to put Limerick 0-10 to 0-8 in front on 20 minutes.

Antrim attacker James McNaughton hit back to reduce the gap to the minimum margin on 21 minutes. Limerick finished the first half strongly. Diarmaid Byrnes, Micheal Houlihan, Patrick O’Donovan, Shane O’Brien and Donnacha Ó Dálaigh were all on target before the break to have the home side leading by four points, 0-15 to 0-11, at the break.

Centre half-back Ethan Hurley set up Patrick O’Donovan for a point at the start of the the second half. Micheál Houlihan followed that up with a point from range to push Limerick 0-17 to 0-11 ahead.

However, Antrim battled back once again and the men from Ulster soon trailed by just four points.

Shane O’Brien was causing the Antrim defence difficulties all evening and he sent over a spectacular effort from a difficult angle to increase the Limerick lead.

The Mary Immaculate College student then took on Antrim defence once again, before slotting the sliotar into the back of the net which had the Shannonsiders now leading 1-18 to 0-13.

The contest ebbed and flowed for the remainder of the second half. Limerick outscored their opponents 0-13 to 0-8.

Subsitutes Hugh Flanagan, Oisin O’Farrell and Dylan Lynch contributed 0-5 between them in the closing stages as Limerick recorded a comfortable 13-point victory in the end.

SCORERS: LIMERICK: Shane O’Brien 1-4, Patrick O’Donovan 0-6, Micheal Houlihan 0-5, David Reidy 0-4 (0-2 frees), Adam English 0-3, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Dylan Lynch and Oisin O’Farrell 0-2 each, Ethan Hurley and Hugh Flanagan 0-1 each, Diarmaid Byrnes (0-1 ’65)

LIMERICK: Shane Dowling (Na Piarsaigh); Vince Harrington (Na Piarsaigh), Dan Morrissey (Ahane), Evan O’Leary (Ahane); Diarmaid Byrnes (Patrickswell), Ethan Hurley (Newcastle West), Darragh Langan (Monaleen); Adam English (Doon), William O’Donoghue (Na Piarsaigh); David Reidy (Dromin Athlacca), Con Hayes (Newcastle West), Micheal Houlihan (Kilmallock); Donnacha Ó Dálaigh (Monaleen), Shane O’Brien (Kilmallock), Patrick O’Donovan (Effin). SUBS: Sean Casey for Byrnes, Oisin O’Farrell for Ó Dálaigh, Chris Thomas for O’Leary, William Dore for Harrington, Hugh Flanagan for O’Donovan, Dylan Lynch for O’Brien, Conor Hanley Clarke for Dowling and Cian Scully for Morrissey.