Limerick make more history as Banner lowered in Munster final

John Keogh John Keogh | 06-10 08:15

Limerick are Munster Senior Hurling champions for the sixth successive year following a 1-26 to 1-20 victory over Clare at Semple Stadium, Thurles.

John Kiely's men were full value for the win, their third in the decider against the Banner in a row.

The Treatymen now advance to the All-Ireland semi-final as they go hunting for their fifth Liam MacCarthy title on the bounce.

Limerick had led by three in the run up to half time but a Peter Duggan goal saw Clare go in level at the break.

However, it was a dominant display in the second half by Limerick with Gearoid Hegarty’s 46th minute goal seeing them on their way.

It was a tense opening after the half hour delay due to the power outage with the game level on four occasions in the opening 12 minutes.

Clare got the first bit of breathing space thanks to successive scores from Tony Kelly and Aidan McCarthy.

Limerick soon hit back, however, with Declan Hannon and Diarmaid Byrnes squaring the game up once again.

McCarthy then had the first clear chance of a goal on 17 minutes but was brilliantly denied by Nickie Quaid. Byrnes was first to the rebound to hack the ball away from danger.

That gave Limerick a boost with a stunning Kyle Hayes point and a Gillane free seeing them 0-8 to 0-6 clear.

McCarthy arrested the Limerick burst with a free of his own but Hannon and Gillane stretched the advantage to three with 10 to go in the first half.

It stayed that way into added time but a long range Kelly free was eventually sent to the net by Duggan after Quaid scooped the ball away from his line. That saw the game squared up at 1-10 to 0-13.

Limerick got the first three points of the second half with Gillane, Shane O’Brien and Tom Morrissey all raising white flags.

Clare did respond to bring Limerick’s advantage back to three but Hegarty’s goal put a major dent to their hopes on 46 minutes.

A Hayes delivery from deep wasn’t dealt with by the Clare defence and Hegarty beat Clare keeper Eibhear Quilligan to the ball and flicked it into the open net.

Mark Rodgers did flash a shot off the best in the final quarter but it was Limerick that finished the stronger to make history with a sixth provincial title.

LIMERICK: Nickie Quaid; Mike Casey, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes (0-05, 3f), Declan Hannon (0-02), Kyle Hayes (0-02); Will O’Donoghue, Cian Lynch; Gearoid Hegarty (1-02), Cathal O’Neill (0-01), Tom Morrissey (0-04, 1f); Aaron Gillane (0-05, 4f), Shane O’Brien (0-02), David Reidy (0-02).

Subs: Adam English (0-01) for Lynch (53), Conor Boylan for O’Neill (63), Donnacha Ó Dálaigh for Gillane (68), Aidan O’Connor for Reidy (69), Graeme Mulcahy for T Morrissey (73).

CLARE: Eibhear Quilligan; Adam Hogan, Conor Cleary, Conor Leen; Diarmuid Ryan, John Conlon, David McInerney; Darragh Lohan, Cathal Malone; David Fitzgerald (0-04), Cathal Mark Rodgers (0-02, 1f), Peter Duggan (1-01); Aidan McCarthy (0-08, 6f), Shane O’Donnell (0-01), Tony Kelly (0-03).

Subs: David Reidy for Lohan (62), Ian Galvin (0-01) for McCarthy (63), Rory Hayes for Cleary (65).

REFEREE: Colm Lyons (Cork).

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