Limerick 1-13; Offaly 1-6: A timely omen perhaps ahead of Cheltenham for punters who believe in a flutter on the outsider.
A defiant and spirited Limerick, without key players due to injuries, turned in a barnstorming display against the odds to topple favourites Offaly on their home patch at St Brendan's Park, Birr, yesterday.
A depleted Limerick won pulling up in the wind and rain, and it all made Pad Joe Whelehan, whose sons did not figure for Offaly, "a happy man".
Limerick were further handicapped in the final quarter when Waterford referee Micheál Wadding sent their big attacking success Seán O'Connor off for a second bookable offence.
It was all set up to be a game of two halves because of a driving, diagonal wind towards the town end, but it didn't work out that way. Limerick, having enjoyed the advantage in the first half, continued, more or less, to control matters in almost similar vein in the second.
It was not pretty to watch.
The home supporters in the well-muffled up, hardy attendance waited patiently for it all to fall into place in the second half. Limerick had not made any huge impact on the scoreboard by half-time, leading by only 0-9 to 0-3 despite the convincing control asserted so splendidly at half back by Damien Reale, Pat Sheehan and, in particular, Mark Foley on the left flank.
Poor finishing, perhaps excusable in the conditions, saw Limerick shoot 11 wides in that opening period against five for the home side. But straight from the throw-in to restart the second half Limerick brushed the loose-marking Offaly rearguard aside to launch the first attacks of the period.
Mark Foley stretched their tally to 0-10 with a well directed 65, and bad luck began to haunt Offaly when a great effort by Rory Hanniffy came back off a post.
Whelehan's tactics of playing a two-man full-forward line against the wind became more and more significant, with John P Sheehan dropping back to leave the front running to Donie Ryan, Seán O'Connor and Andrew O'Shaughnessy.
Trailing by seven points, the road back for Offaly seemed to open up seven minutes into the second half when Rory Hanniffy finished a Michael Cordial centre to the net. There wasn't a home supporter in the 2,500 crowd who did not believe they could win from this juncture.
But eight minutes later Donal Ryan, a star turn, struck for a Limerick goal that decided the issue. Offaly goalkeeper Brian Mullins opted to bat down a long delivery that seemed to be going over the bar and the opportunist Ryan was on hand to drill it home.
Limerick's seven-point advantage was duly restored and Offaly heads dropped visibly.
In a golden patch Seán O'Connor and Donie Ryan tacked on points. It was advantage to Limerick by 1-13 to 1-5 going into the final quarter. Gary Hanniffy lived up to his status by reducing arrears with a snap point.
LIMERICK: A Shanahan; M Cahill, TJ Ryan, B Carroll; D Reale, P Sheehan, M Foley (0-1 65); P Tobin (0-1), J O'Brien (0-1); P O'Grady (0-2 1f), S O'Connor (0-1), M McKenna (0-1); D Ryan (1-2), J P Sheehan, A O'Shaughnessy (0-4 4f). Subs: C Smith for O'Brien (52 mins), P O'Reilly for Tobin (56 mins), J Meskill for P O'Grady (60 mins), D Sheehan for McKenna (60 mins).
OFFALY: B Mullins; B Teehan, G Oakley, D Franks; N Claffey, J Brady, C Cassidy; B Murphy (0-1), M Cordial; B Carroll (0-1), R Hanniffy (1-1), N Coughlan; D Hayden, G Hanniffy (0-2), D Murray. Subs: N Mannion for N Coughlan (20 mins), K Brady for N Claffey (30 mins), C Gath for Cordial (52 mins), N O'Hara (0-1) for B Carroll (53 mins).
Referee: M Wadding (Waterford).
