Limerick's tenacity rewarded

THE SUN shone down on Bellefield Park in Enniscorthy, but the performances were a little too frail to put a lively crowd of nearly 10,000 fully in mind of the championship.

After Limerick and Wexford had reenacted the All Ireland final with enthusiasm and a couple of outstanding individual performances, last September's result had been reversed.

Limerick racked up this win largely because they hung on doggedly in a first half that saw Wexford seize the initiative and most of the possession and converted enough of their increased opportunities after half time to go joint top of the Church & General National Hurling League table.

The day had started badly for Limerick as Ciaran Carey was ruled out of the match on medical advice at the team's hotel in Waterford. The problem will be referred to specialists this week.

"Ciaran suffered an internal injury to his leg which hasn't cleared," explained Limerick manager, Tom Ryan. "He took a knock against Kilkenny which he aggravated against Clare. When the doctor looked at it this morning, he said no way he could play."

Into Carey's place came John Flavin, who didn't look the happiest at centre back - a state of affairs Ryan put down to the player's greater familiarity with the full back line.

Contrary to what might have been expected in such perfect conditions, neither team was blessed with strong performances by emerging players.

Martin Storey and Tom Dempsey accounted for 14 of Wexford's 16 points while Gary Kirby and Mike Houlihan put up 13 of Limerick's 18. Furthermore, the back up came from equally established performers. Wexford's Adrian Fenlon was conspicuously the classiest turn at midfield, whereas Mark Foley confirmed his worth.

Not all the big names were on form: All Ireland wing back Rod Guiney struggled at midfield for Wexford. And neither Robert Hassey nor Paul Codd, fringe players last year, made much impact in the attack.

Limerick's intense battle with Clare a week previously had been complemented by strong performances from James Moran and Dave Hennessy, neither of whom dazzled yesterday, although Hennessy took a couple of points and Moran was moved around in switches with Kirby and Houlihan before joining his brother Ollie at midfield.

The match was affected - but riot greatly - by a breeze which followed Wexford for the first half, and accordingly they took the initiative. Kirby gave Limerick the lead, but the home side then took over.

Dempsey scourged Declan Nash for the afternoon. His 11 point haul contained all manner of goodies, snappily taken scores from play as well as booming long range frees and 65s. His contribution didn't appear affected even by a knock in the 25th minute which held up play for around two minutes.

Limerick won because they kept in touch during the first half hour. Kirby's and Houlihan's dead ball strikes were topped up by points from Hennessy and Owen O'Neill, who swept over a spectacular point from the right corner.

In injury time at the end of this half Wexford by a harmless enough 0-9 to 0-7, nearly filched the goal that would have given them more of a cushion. Storey lightly flicked on Liam Dunne's long range, dropping free and the ball looked like squeezing into the corner of the net.

That it didn't was a matter of some controversy. Joe Quaid performed some trademark acrobatics but in mid flight seemed to realise he wasn't going to make the save and threw his hurley at the ball to deflect it over the endline.

This blatant albeit instinctive - illegality wasn't noticed by referee Sean McMahon, who simply awarded a 65 which Dempsey uncharacteristically sent wide just on half time.

The margin wasn't enough to restrain Limerick's comeback. Kirby's move to full forward paid dividends on a couple of balls. Ger Cushe's full back methodology depends on hustling his man off the ball. Once Kirby got to the ball he was strong enough to turn and take his scores.

Behind him, Houlihan provided a robust presence on the 40 which discommoded Liam Dunne and created a little space for TJ Ryan, who had a good second half on the wing after starting in the corner.

Limerick hit the front within 10 minutes of the resumption and from then on stretched their lead bit by bit as Wexford's response failed to keep pace on the scoreboard. With two minutes left, the score was a conclusive looking 0-18 to 0-14, but late points by Dempsey and Guiney as Wexford launched a frenzied but too long delayed comeback, brought the margin to two points.