Downes takes advantage to seal final spot for Limerick

GAA: MUNSTER UNDER-21 HURLING SEMI-FINAL: Limerick 2-19 Clare 1-15LIMERICK GAINED a small bit of compensation for their defeat in the All-Ireland senior hurling quarter-final against Dublin on Sunday when their Under-21s booked a place in the Munster final against Cork by beating Clare at Cusack Park in Ennis last night.

Physically stronger in most departments, the Shannonsiders led from the start and deserved their win. They ruled matters in the vital middle third of the field dominating the halfback and half forward sectors throughout.

Limerick got off to a dream start with a goal from corner forward Michael Ryan in the second minute. They had the better of matters in the opening 10 minutes when Clare appeared to be under pressure in a lot of positions which is reflected in a scoreline of 1-4 to 0-1 in the visitors’ favour.

Clare came much more into the contest in the middle part of this half and four points without reply brought them right back into contention and within two points of the Limerick men.

However, Limerick finished the half much the stronger and five unanswered points in as many minutes left them seven clear when the half-time whistle sounded.

Clare needed a good start to the second half and that’s exactly what transpired when they had the opening three scores, one of them being an excellent goal from Cathal McInerney.

This reduced the deficit to two points but that was as close as they got.

They were still in contention with 11 minutes to go but a defensive blunder ended their hopes. Team captain Patrick O’Connor lost possession as he tried to break out of defence and the Limerick skipper Kevin Downes raced through to score his side’s second goal.

LIMERICK: A Murphy; A Dempsey, P Begley, S OReilly; C McNamara, C Hayes, T OCallaghan; C Allis (0-3), S OBrien (0-2); S Dowling (0-4), D Hannon (0-1), N Kennedy (0-1), M Ryan (1-2), K Downes (1-4), W Griffin (0-1). Subs: B Cleary for OCallaghan, M Carmody (0-1) for Griffin, B OConnell for McNamara, S Madden for Ryan, T Fleming for Downes.

CLARE: K Brennan; D Nash, P OConnor, P Flanagan; K Kennedy, C Chaplin, S OHalloran; C Ryan, L Markham (0-2); C McInerney (1-1), S Golden, T Kelly (0-3); P Collins (0-1), C McGrath (0-5), F Kennedy. Subs: D OHalloran (0-3) for Kennedy, A Lynch for Ryan, J Fennessy for Golden.