Allianz Football League Division 3 – Limerick 1-14 Wexford 1-13

Limerick defeated Wexford by 1-14 to 1-13 in round 4 of the Allianz Football League Division 3 on Sunday March 9th at the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick.

Ryan the hero as Limerick ‘rob’ it

By Brendan Buckley for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Ian Ryan was Limerick’s hero with an injury-time winning goal to deny Wexford at the Gaelic Grounds. The home side were behind for much of the game and with 20 minutes remaining trailed 1-11 to 0-8. It left Limerick manager John Brudair accepting his side were guilty of robbery: “In the end that was a great win — it was one of those freaky results that you get. We had momentum for the last few minutes and then we really robbed it,” admitted Brudair.

Limerick started brightly and were 0-3 to no score ahead in the early exchanges, with Ger Collins and free-taker Ryan on target. But soon that lead was a 1-3 to 0-3 deficit. The Wexford goal came in the ninth minute when PJ Banville slipped inside the defence and put the ball though the legs of advancing goalkeeper Donal O’Sullivan.

Despite Limerick playing an extra defender, Wexford were finding a way through and Kevin O’Grady, Daithi Waters, Ben Brosnan, Adrian Flynn and Ciaran Lyng all found the range as they surged 1-5 to 0-5 clear. They finished the half on top to lead 1-8 to 0-6. With Limerick relying heavily on frees, Wexford were still 1-12 to 0-10 clear entering the final quarter.

But they went into defensive mode and drew Limerick into attack. Seamus O’Carroll and Ryan had points from play before Ryan somehow got a touch in a crowded goalmouth deep into injury-time to snatch the winning goal.

Scorers for Limerick: I Ryan 1-10 (8f), G Collins, I Corbett, S O’Carroll, E Hanrahan (f) 0-1 each.

Scorers for Wexford: B Brosnan 0-5 (2f), PJ Banville 1-1, K O’Grady 0-2 (1f), D Waters, A Flynn, C Lyng, C Carthy, B Malone 0-1 each.

LIMERICK: D O’Sullivan; L O’Dwyer, J McCarthy, M O’Riordan; J Riordan, S Lucey, I Corbett; T Lee, S Buckley; M Brosnan, D Treacy, P Browne; G Collins, J Mullane , I Ryan.

Subs: S O’Carroll for O’Dwyer (30), J Galvin for Treacy (h-t), P Ranahan for Riordan (h-t), D Neville for Mullane (48), E Hanrahan for Brosnan (55).

WEXFORD: S Roche; B Malone, G Molloy, M Furlong; A Flynn, J Breen, T Rossitor; D Waters, P Byrne; C Carty, B Brosnan, M O’Regan; C Lyng, PJ Banville, K O’Grady.

Subs: Colm Kehoe for O’Regan (46), Cillian Kehoe for Breen (63), B O’Gorman for Brosnan (67), G Cullen for Bryne (71), R Tierney for O’Grady (72).

Referee: S Hehir (Galway).

Team News

LIMERICK: Donal O’Sullivan; Padraig Browne, Johnny McCarthy, Mark O’Riordan; John Riordan, Stephen Lucey, Iain Corbett; Tom Lee, Gearoid Hegarty; Seanie Buckley, Darragh Treacy, Micheal Brosnahan; Ger Collins, John Mullane, Ian Ryan.

WEXFORD: Shane Roche; Brian Malone, Graeme Molloy, Michael Furlong; Adrian Flynn, James Breen, Tiernan Rossiter; Daithi Waters, Paddy Byrne, Conor Carty, Ben Brosnan, Michael O’Regan; Ciaran Lyng, PJ Banville, Kevin O’Grady.