Limerick 6-21 Kerry 3-8
Kerry gave Limerick such a fright in the opening 20 minutes that they suffered a major backlash from then to the end of a disappointing affair at the Gaelic Grounds.
Limerick manager John Kiely moved usual halfback Ronan Lynch to the forward line and he scored 3-11, with two of the goals from 21 yard frees, a point from a penalty, seven points from frees and one from a ‘65’ and two from play.
Pádraig Boyle exposed weaknesses in the Limerick defence as he scored a hat-trick of goals.
After 19 minutes the sides were level, Limerick 0-7, Kerry 2-1 after the visitors led by a point 0-3 to 1-1 after ten minutes.
Limerick had five points in a row from Tom Morrissey, Seanie Tobin, Ronan Lynch, free, and two more from Morrissey before they were rocked by Kerry’s second goal, again scored by Boyle.
By half-time Limerick led 2-13 to 2-3. Their first goal came from Graeme Mulcahy from a pass from debutant Colin Ryan who had a fine game at halfback.
Long delivery
Goal number two resulted from a long delivery by Declan Hannon which Morrissey gathered and he tore through the Kerry defence to hit a superb goal.
Kerry did not manage a point from play until the a minute before the break from Jordan Conway but the goals and two points from frees meant that ten points separated them at the break.
The second half was one-sided and Limerick led 4-18 to 2-6 when Kevin O’Brien, with his first touch scored goal number five.
Boyle completed his hat-trick of goals but it was too late to make a difference.
LIMERICK: N Quaid; S Cahill, R McCarthy, R English; C Ryan, S Hickey, D Hannon; J Fitzgibbon, J Ryan (0-1); K Hayes, T Morrissey (1-3), C Lynch; G Mulcahy (1-1), R Lynch (3-11, 2-7 f, 1,65' 1 pen), S Tobin (0-4).
Subs: W O'Donoughue for Hayes (h-t), D O'Donovan for C Lynch (44), P Ryan for Fitzgibbon (57), A La Touche Cosgrave (0-1) for Mulcahy (58), K O'Brien (1-0) for Tobin (60).
KERRY: A McCabe; S Weir, R Horgan, B Murphy; P Costello, P Kelly (0-1), D Dinneen; P O'Connor, C Harty; S Nolan (0-5, 0-5f), M Boyle, J Conway (0-1); K Carmody, P Boyle (3-0), J Goulding (0-1f).
Subs: J O'Connor for M Boyle (h-t), J Buckley for Costello (54), J Wallace for Carmody (57), S Murphy for Conway (62), J Godley for Kelly (63).
Referee: Alan Kelly (Galway).
