Sport

Dublin go down with real fight

National Hurling League Division One/ Limerick 3-14 Dublin 3-8 : Having trailed by six points earlier on in this game, there…

Mon Apr 18 2005 - 01:00

National Hurling League Division One/ Limerick 3-14 Dublin 3-8: Having trailed by six points earlier on in this game, there was some encouragement for the Dublin hurlers yesterday despite yesterday's defeat at Parnell Park. Dublin now need to defeat Antrim next Saturday in order to avoid the drop to Division Two.

Limerick had started well and three early points from Andrew O'Shaughnessy had helped them open up a 0-7 to 0-1 lead.

Dublin made a determined comeback and, following a David Curtin free, goals from Maghnus Breathnach and Emmett Carroll had got them in front on the quarter hour.

Dublin goalkeeper Gary Maguire was then forced to pull off a series of saves to keep out Limerick, who by half-time were back in front on a 0-10 to 2-3 scoreline.

READ MORE

Indecision by the Dublin defence then allowed Andrew O'Shaughnessy to pounce for an early goal after the break.

Dublin got themselves back into contention through a Breathnach goal and Ronan Fallon's point.

With the scores level at 3-6 to 1-12, Limerick then exploited some huge gaps in the Dublin defence to twice find the back of the net in as many minutes through James O'Brien and Michael Cahill.

Dublin responded with a 65 from David Curtin and a David Sweeney effort to reduce the arrears. But Limerick managed to keep their opponents out for the remaining 15 minutes with Ollie Moran and Conor Fitzgerald adding the insurance points.

LIMERICK: G O'Connell; D Reale, S Lucey, M Foley; P O'Dwyer, O Moran (0-1), B Geary; D O'Grady, P Cahill; C Fitzgerald (0-3), JP Sheahan (0-1), A O'Shaughnessy (1-3); D Ryan, TJ Ryan (0-1), A O'Connor (0-2, all frees). Subs: P Lawlor (0-1) for O' Dwyer (20 mins). J O' Brien (1-0) for Sheehan (25 mins), M Cahill (1-2) for O'Connor (half-time), M Clifford for P Cahill (61 mins).

DUBLIN: G Maguire; G Bennett, S Daly, S O'Shea; S Hiney, R Fallon (0-1), D O'Reilly; D Sweeney (0-1), C Meehan; G O' Meara, D Curtin (0-5, four frees, one 65), M Carton; E Carroll (1-1), M Breathnach (2-0), T Moore. Subs: D Spain for S Daly (56 mins), T Sweeney for Moore (65 mins), A Mc Crabbe for Breathnach (66 mins).

Referee: P Horan (Offaly).

(injured, replaced at half-time by P Dunphy, Kilkenny).