Limerick secure impressive victory over Dublin in the Allianz Senior Hurling League

LIMERICK have secured an impressive 3-30 to 1-18 victory over Dublin in the Allianz Senior Hurling League in Croke Park this Saturday evening. 

John Kiely's men looked to be in cruise control throughout the game making it three wins from three in the league so far. 

Limerick will face Tipperary at home in the TUS Gaelic Grounds in the next round of the hurling league on Saturday, March 9 at 7:35pm. 

Limerick started the game in a blazing fashion after winning the throw-in through William O'Donoghue who accurately found Donnacha Ó Dálaigh inside in the forward line. With only the goalie to beat the Monaleen man made no mistake with the shot after 25 seconds of play. 

This set the tone for the Treaty team in the opening minutes with quick points from Adam English, Shane O'Brien and Tom Morrissey to leave them 1-3 to 0-1 ahead. 

It took the first 10 minutes for Dublin to settle into the match before getting scores from Danny Sutcliffe and Ronan Hayes, putting them right back into the game. Limerick continued to keep adding scores after easily gathering the Dublin puck out on multiple occasions gifting them points. 

Dublin did get an opportunity for a goal through Sean Currie, but the shot was expertly by Nickie Quaid after 19 minutes of play. Centre forward Donal Burke was accurate with all his frees in the first-half, helping Dublin's come back with only the goal separating them after 15 minutes 1-7 to 0-7. 

This didn’t stop Limerick though who seemed to able to get scores freely from a host of their players, despite hitting nine wides in the first-half, before Gearoid Hegarty spotted an unmarked Tom Morrissey to set up their second goal of the game. 

Dublin's Cian O'Sullivan hit their second goal attempt just wide after 29 minutes, seconds after Morrissey's goal. Limerick powered on in the closing minutes of the half to leave them 2-13 to 0-11 ahead at the break. 

Gearoid Hegarty set the tone inside the first two minutes of the second-half with two back-to-back points from play before Ó Dálaigh's second goal of the evening after beating his marker. 

Dublin struck back straight away from their puck out with Conor Burke making up the hard yards before passing it on to Sean Currie for their first goal of the match leaving the score-board 3-15 to 1-11. 

This would be Dublin's only score for over ten minutes as Limerick pushed on with points from Cathal O'Neill and Adam English. 

The game seemed to fizzle out slightly after 50 minutes of play, with a host of substitutes on both sides. Dublin's Cian O'Sullivan slotted over a point from play and a free to keep his side ticking over. 

Limerick came back to life in the final 10 minutes scoring 11 points in that period of time with subs Micheál Houlihan and Dan Morrissey making their mark off the bench.

John Kiely's men were in cruise control in the closing minutes of the game with Donnacha Ó Dálaigh the top scorer with 2-1 on the evening leaving them with another victory in the league on a scoreline of 3-30 to 1-18. 

SCORERS- LIMERICK: Adam English 0-8 (0-3 frees), Donnacha Ó Dálaigh 2-1, Tom Morrissey 1-4, Gearoid Hegarty 0-5, Cathal O'Neill 0-4, Diarmaid Byrnes 0-2 (0-1 free), Micheál Houlihan 0-2, Kyle Hayes, Fergal O'Connor, Barry Murphy, Shane O'Brien 0-1 each

SCORERS- DUBLIN: Donal Burke 0-5 (0-4 frees, 0-1 65), Cian O'Sullivan 0-5 (0-3 frees), Sean Currie 1-0, Danny Sutcliffe 0-3,Conor Burke 0-2, Ronan Hayes, Conor Donohoe, Diarmaid Ó Dúlaing 0-1 each. 

LIMERICK: Nickie Quaid, Fergal O’Connor, Mike Casey, Barry Nash, Diarmaid Byrnes, Tom Morrissey, Kyle Hayes, William O’Donoghue, Darragh O’Donovan, Gearoid Hegarty, Cathal O’Neill, Conor Boylan, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Shane O’Brien, Adam English. 

SUBS: Oisin O'Reilly for A English (34 minutes till Half-Time), Seamus Flanagan for S O'Brien (42 minutes), Barry Murphy for W O'Donoghue(56 minutes) Dan Morrissey for M Casey(56 minutes), Micheál Houlihan for C Boylan (56 minutes), Aaron Costello for B Nash (65 minutes)

DUBLIN: Seán Brennan, James Madden, Paddy Smyth, John Bellew, Conor Donohoe, Chris Crummey, Daire Gray, Conor Burke, Seán Gallagher, Ronan Hayes, Dónal Burke, Brian Hayes, Danny Sutcliffe, Cian O'Sullivan, Seán Currie. 

SUBS: Diarmaid Ó Dúlaing for B Hayes (48 minutes), Darragh Power for S Gallagher (51 minutes), Paul Crummey for D Burke (53 minutes), Jake Malone for S Currie (64 minutes), Donal Leavy for R Hayes (64 minutes)

REFEREE: Kevin Jordan (Tipperary)