2021 Allianz Football League Division 3 South – Offaly 0-16 Limerick 1-11

Offaly defeated Limerick by 0-16 to 1-11 in Round 2 of the 2021 Allianz Football League Division 3 South on Saturday May 22nd at Bord Na Mona O’Connor Park Tullamore.

Limerick fall to narrow defeat to Offaly in tense Allianz Football League tussle

Report by Jerome O’Connell for the Limerick Leader newspaper

DEFEAT for Limerick this Saturday afternoon in the Allianz Football League.

In O’Connor Park in Tullamore this Division Three South game finished Offaly 0-16 Limerick 1-11.

Billy Lee’s side never reached the heights of their round one win over Tipperary and now need to win when they conclude their group games next Saturday (May 29) away to Wicklow in Aughrim.

In this tie, Offaly scored 16-points from play, while Limeirck scored 1-4.

The sides were level on seven occasions on an afternoon when Limerick had five wides and Offaly eight.

The game was level at 0-5 each at half time after Limerick had played with the aid of a gentle breeze in the opening half.

But it was a below par opening 35-minutes from Limerick – more often than not forced over and back the field outside the ’45 in the face of a packed Offaly defence.

It was a half in which Limerick had just one wide – inside the first 45-seconds. Offaly had five wides and also had a 12th minute penalty come back off the post.

Joe Maher opened the scoring after 54-seconds and while a Hugh Bourke mark responded it was the only time that the sides were level until the half time whistle.

Limerick had to play 10-minutes of the opening quarter with 14-men after Brian Fanning picked up a blackcard in the penalty incident.

Joe Maher the post with the free but two Bernard Allen points soon had the home side, 0-3 to 0-1 ahead. A Bourke free left it 0-3 to 0-2 at the first half water break on 17-minutes.

Anton Sullivan stretched the lead out to three points before wing back Gordon Brown had the first Limerick score from play in the 25th minute.

A third of the day from Allen maintained the lead for John Maughan’s side before Limerick finished on top.

Not before a few anxious moments when Offaly went close to two goals – Donal O’Sullivan and defenders doing well to deny Allen and Eoin Carroll in quick succession.

Bob Childs and Hugh Bourke sent Limerick to the dressing room with a pep in their step with fine scores in the closing minutes.

Four minutes into the second half Limerick were ahead for the first time – a simple tap-in from the edge of the small square for Hugh Bourke after Danny Neville had created the opening. That goal had Limerick 1-5 to 0-6 ahead.

But the game was level for a third time when Offaly found two points in reply.

Neville almost found a carbon cop of his goal against Tipperary but this time a point was the end result to retake the lead.

But Offaly had back-to-back points to lead 0-11 to 1-7 at the second half water break on 51-minutes.

The game was just inside the final 15-minutes when Josh Ryan leveled the game for the sixth time with a pointed free.

Alas it was again Offaly that replied with their 12th point from play.

While Ryan hit back with another free, Limerick again failed to find successive scores and Offaly edged in front once again – 0-13 to 1-9 with 10-minutes to play.

With Limerick chasing an equaliser, Niall McNamee stretched the Offaly lead with two points in injury time.

SCORERS: Limerick: Hugh Bourke 1-4 (2frees, 1mark), Josh Ryan 0-4 (4frees), Gordon Brown, Bob Childs and Danny Neville 0-1 each.

Offaly: Bernard Allan 0-5, Cian Farrell, Shane Horan, Ruairi McNamee and Niall McNamee 0-2 each, Joe Maher, Anton Sullivan, Eoin Carroll 0-1 each.

LIMERICK: Donal O’Sullivan; Sean O’Dea, Brian Fanning, Michael Donovan; Tony McCarthy, Bob Childs, Gordon Brown; Darragh Treacy, Tommie Childs; Cian Sheehan, Iain Corbett, Brian Donovan; Danny Neville, Cillian Fahy, Hugh Bourke
Subs: Paul Maher for Tony McCarthy (h-t), Josh Ryan for Cian Sheehan (h-t), Peter Nash for Brian Donovan (54mins), Luke Murphy for Gordon Brown (60mins), Gerard Stack for Cillian Fahy (86mins), Adrian Enright for Hugh Bourke (68mins).

OFFALY: Paddy Dunican, Declan Hogan, Eoin Rigney, Niall Darby; Colm Doyle, Johnny Moloney, David Dempsey; Bill Carroll, Eoin Carroll; Joe Maher, Jordan Hayes, Anton Sullivan; Bernard Allen, Peter Cunningham. Ruairi McNamee
Subs: James Lalor for Declan Hogan, inj (23mins), Shane Horan for Bill Carroll (h-t), Cian Farrell for Joe Maher (h-t), Niall McNamee for Anton Sullivan (54mins), Rory Egan for Colm Doyle (64mins), Carl Stewart for David Dempsey (64mins), Ciaran Donnelly for Eoin Rigney (64mins).

REFEREE: John Gilmartin (Sligo).

Team News

LIMERICK SENIOR FOOTBALLL TEAM TO PLAY OFFALY TEAM IS SELECTED. https://t.co/ArnwMvQIPV

— Limerick GAA (@LimerickCLG) May 21, 2021

Limerick (v Offaly): Donal O’Sullivan; Sean O’Dea, Brian Fanning, Michael O’Donovan; Tony McCarthy, Bob Childs, Gordon Brown; Darragh Treacy, Tommie Childs; Cian Sheehan, Cillian Fahy, Tommy Griffin; Adrian Enright, Danny Neville, Hugh Bourke
Subs: A. O’Sullivan, P. Maher, I. Corbett, L. Murphy, J. Ryan, P. de Brun; R. Burke, B. Donovan, P. Nash, G. Stack. K. Howard.

Match Preview

PREVIEW: It's Round 2 in #AllianzLeagues football this weekend! We look ahead here at the games taking place, across all four divisions #GAABelong

— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 21, 2021