Kerry had many things to be thankful for, not least the erratic form of the Limerick forwards before stumbling through unconvincingly at the Gaelic Grounds yesterday.
High on the list of "let-offs" for the champions was a stunning second half save by 'keeper Declan O'Keeffe at a time when the challengers had taken over the midfield sector. This was but one of a flood of second half chances the home side squandered, although Michael Reidy's low pile driver from the right deserved a better result.
Kerry, on the back-foot at this stage, were feeding off misplaced passes and were just happy to mount the odd second half sortie upfield against the wind deep into Limerick territory. Kerry's 11 first half wides against none for Limerick did them no credit but Aodán MacGrearalt had some magnificent points.
Limerick manager Liam Kearns could not emphasise enough the importance of O'Keeffe's save 19 minutes into the second half when only four points separated the teams. "I thought it had a huge bearing on the result " said Kearns. "A goal at that stage, and we might have gone on and taken it."
Kearns added: "We missed points from frees and 45s, and you can't do that against Kerry. They broke up the field a few times in the second half and snatched vital points."
Limerick were generlly happy in midfield after Páidí Ó Sé decided not to start Darragh Ó Sé, still nursing a thumb injury since the League match against Laois.
Their problems in the midfield sector grew more acute in the second half and the alarm bells were answered by the Kerry team manager when he finally introduced his nephew. Ironically, Seamus Scanlon who had begun to settle well in the area in the second quarter was replaced by Sean O'Sullivan.
Eoin Brosnan started in midfield alongside Scanlon, with Dara O Cinnéide, later taken off, figuring at left corner forward.
John Quane and John Galvin got through most of the effective work in midfield for the tough-tackling Limerick men. But good possession won in the vital sector was of little use behind forwards who lacked ideas and scoring power.
Some of Limerick's six second half wides were hard to fathom. They had real reason to rue those missed opportunities when they finally got the deficit down to a point - 1-7 to 0-11 - with seven minutes remaining .
A brilliant catch of the slippery ball by Seamus Moynihan came to Kerry's rescue at this stage. Thankfully for Kerrry, Moynihan marshalled a cool and efficient Kerry defence with great authority. Nonetheless, it must be said that the Kerry cover may have been made look good against a wastefull and not too clever Limerick attack.
"When we managed to break away upfield in the second half we created problems for them but let's be honest Limerick are a football force to be reckoned with," said Kerry boss Ó Sé.
Kerry were seen at their best with young Colm Cooper MacGearailt, Mike F Russell and Johnny Crowley in full fight during the second quarter but they chalked up six of their nine first half wides within the opening 17 minutes.
Stephen Lucey's inspirational solo from centre back ignited Limerick's scoring with a brilliant point after 11 minutes and this was followed by a spectacular goal by Johnny Murphy after Quane and Michael Reidy had done the spade work.
The Kerry forwards had to be on their best behaviour following that shock Limerick flurry and they responded well to build up a 0-9 to 1-1 lead by half time. Limerick's score shy forwards had the winning of the match when fed on a regular basis with the wind on their backs in the second half.
"But," said manager Kearns we will regroup and hopefully we can do ourselves justice yet."
KERRY: 1 D O'Keeffe; 2 M O Sé, 3 S Moynihan 4 M McCarthy; 5 T O Sé, 6 E Fitzmaurice, 7 T O'Sullivan; 12 E Brosnan, 9 S Scanlon; 10 A MacGearailt, 11 N Kennelly, 19 D O'Cinneide; 13 M F Russell, 14 J Crowley, 15 C Cooper. Subs: D O Sé for D O Cinnéide 48 mins, S O'Sullivan for Scanlon (63).
LIMERICK: 1 S O'Donnell; 2 S Lavin, 3 D Sheehy, 4 T Stack; 5 C Mullane, 6 S Lucey, 7 D Reidy; 8 J Quane, 9 J Galvin; 10 S Kelly, 11 M Gavin, 12 P Ahern; 13 M Reidy, 14 J Stokes, 15 J Murphy. Subs: C Hickey for Murphy (half time), C Fitzgerald for Kelly (39 mins), N Hunt for Gavin (42)
