Limerick suffer first defeat of Allianz Hurling League campaign to Clare:

Limerick suffer first defeat of Allianz Hurling League campaign to Clare:

By Paul Shaughnessy Limerick Leader Sport

LIMERICK were defeated by Clare 1-21 to 0-21 on Sunday afternoon in the TUS Gaelic Grounds in round five of the Allianz Hurling League.

Clare were full for their victory and Limerick will have regrets over the shooting in front of goals. Kiely’s side created six goal chances and the Limerick senior hurling manager will have regrets that his side didn’t manage to take any of those goals.

Space opened up for Limerick attacker Shane O’Brien straight away and the Kilmallock clubman shot was excellently saved by Eibhear Quilligan. David Reidy and Shane O’Brien had Limerick 0-2 in front after four minutes. UL Fitzgibbon Cup winner Sean Rynne reduced the gap to the minimum from a difficult angle.

Referee Thomas Walsh then awarded Limerick a scoreable free after Darragh Lohan had fouled Aaron Gillane on the 21 metre line. Gillane nailed the resulting placed ball to push Limerick 0-3 to 0-1. Aidan McCarthy added two quickfire points in-a-row to make 0-3 apiece.

Limerick’s long range free dropped short through Diarmaid Byrnes and the sliotar fell into the hands of Aaron Gillane. Gillane’s effort hit the crossbar and Clare were relieved to avoid another goal.

Adam English then drove forward it looked as if the Clare defence had did enough to overturn the Doon clubman but Aaron Gillane stayed alert to the loose ball. Gillane added his second point of the day. Brian Lohan’s side then hit next three points from Sean Rynne, Aidan McCarthy and Jack O’Neill to push the visitors 0-6 to 0-4 clear.

Aaron Gillane’s accuracy was proving crucial and the Limerick sharpshooter levelled the contest fro third time on 18 minutes. Clare outscored their opponets in the next 14 minutes as scores from Tony Kelly, Aidan McCarthy, Jack O’Neill and David Fitzgerald put Clare 0-12 to 0-8 in front. Aaron Gillane’s free taking kept Limerick within touching distance during that period.

Adam English was forced with a blood injury and his replacement Aidan O’Connor made an immediate impact getting his name on the scoresheet on the stroke of half time.

John Kiely’s side trailed 0-12 to 0-9 at the interval. Limerick came out a different side after the break through David Reidy, Barry Nash, Cian Lynch and Shane O’Brien to put them 0-13 to 0-12 ahead after 38 minutes. It looks as if all the momentum was with the hosts.

The vistors response was impressive and Clare corner forward David Reidy slotted the sliotar into the back of the net as Clare led 1-12 to 0-13 four minutes into the second half. Byrnes then landed a 65 to make it 1-12 to 0-14.

Clare’s Aidan McCarthy and Cathal Malone stretched their lead out to four points and the All-Ireland champions were starting to take control of the contest. Barry Nash looked in impressive form in his first start for Limerick in 2025 and Nash drove over an inspirational effort which was qickly followed up by a long range effort from Diarmaid Byrnes.

Clare started to reassert their dominance on this encounter when points from Tony Kelly and Aidan McCarthy had their side 1-18 to 0-16 clear. Substitute Aidan O’Connor reduced the gap to four points but that was quickly cancelled out by efforts from Mark Rodgers and Sean Rynne. On 62 minutes Aaron Gillane made it 1-21 to 0-19 and the Shannonsiders needed a strong finish if they were to turn things around.

On 64 minutes, Limerick senior hurler Diarmaid Byrnes was dismissed on a straight red card for an off the ball incident. Although, the victors didn’t score in the remaining ten minutes Clare had did enough throughout the second half to secure a vital two points.

Two frees from Jason Gillane and a free Aaron Gillane was all Limerick could manage in the closing stages as they suffered their first defeat in the Allianz Hurling League.

Limerick will be back in action on Saturday next, March 8 against Galway at 7:30pm in the TUS Gaelic Grounds.

SCORERS FOR LIMERICK: Aaron Gillane 0-8 (0-6 frees); David Reidy; Shane O’Brien; Aidan O’Connor; Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes (0-1 ‘65); Jason Gillane (0-2 frees) each; Cian Lynch 0-1.

SCORERS FOR CLARE: Aidan McCarthy 0-7 (0-6 frees); Sean Rynne, Jack O’Neill, Tony Kelly 0-3 each; David Reidy 1-0; David Fitzgerald 0-2; Cathal Malone, Cian Galvin, Mark Rodgers 0-1 each.

LIMERICK: Jason Gillane (Patrickswell); Barry Murphy (Doon), Mike Casey (Na Piarsaigh), Barry Nash (South Liberties); Diarmaid Byrnes (Patrickswell), Ethan Hurley (Newcastle West), Colin Coughlan (Ballybrown); Adam English (Doon), Cian Lynch (Patrickswell); Eddie Stokes (Doon), David Reidy (Dromin-Athlacca), Cathal O’Neill (Crecora Manister); Aaron Gillane (Patrickswell), Shane O’Brien (Kilmallock), Seamus Flanagan (Feohanagh Castlemahon).

SUBS: Aidan O’Connor (Ballybrown) for English (blood 34 – ht); Aidan O’Connor (Ballybrown) for Stokes (ht); Patrick O’Donovan (Effin) for Flanagan (50 minutes), Donnacha Ó Dálaigh (Monaleen) for O’Brien (66 minutes), Vince Harrington (Na Piarsaigh) for Nash (66 minutes)

CLARE: Eibhear Quilligan; Adam Hogan, Darragh Lohan, Conor Leen; Cian Galvin, John Conlon, Cathal Malone; Tony Kelly, Ryan Taylor; Jack O’Neill, David Fitzgerald, Sean Rynne; Aidan McCarthy, David Reidy, Mark Rodgers.

SUBS: Shane Meehan for Reidy (56); Paddy Donnellan for McCarthy (68); Aron Shanagher for Fitzgerald (70).

REFEREE: Thomas Walsh (Waterford)