Limerick 3-7

Clare 0-15

John Keogh reports from the TUS Gaelic Grounds

LIMERICK PRODUCED A stunning injury time comeback to come away with a 3-7 to 0-15 win over Clare in the Munster U20 Hurling Championship at the TUS Gaelic Grounds.

Trailing by three points at the end of 60 minutes, a Cathal O’Neill goal from a free levelled the game and then O’Neill fired over the winning point to deny Clare a sensational victory.

O’Neill finished the game with 2-3, with his first goal coming after just 72 seconds. Colin Coughlan had put Limerick ahead after 13 seconds.

Clare, aided by a strong breeze, took control of the half from there with the next five points. Three came from Shane Punch, while Colm O’Meara and Patrick Crotty got one apiece.

It took Limerick 19 minutes to register a score after O’Neill’s goal and it was the Crecora-Manister clubman that did the damage to level the game at 1-2 to 0-5.

However, it was the Banner that dominated the rest of the half with Jack Kirwan, Diarmuid Cahill, Punch (3), Crotty and Keith Smyth seeing them seven to the good.

Smyth got his second on the restart but Limerick hit back with two Aidan O’Connor points and a Patrick Kirby goal that brought them right back into the game.

Clare settled with efforts from Conner Hegarty and Cian Galvin but efforts from Jimmy Quilty and O’Neill brought Limerick back heading into added time.

Punch then got shown a red card after picking up a second yellow and from that very free, O’Neill fired into the net to level the contest for a third time, before snatching victory with a superb point from play.

Scorers – Limerick: Cathal O’Neill 2-3 (1-0f), Patrick Kirby 1-0, Aidan O’Connor 0-2 (1f), Colin Coughlan and Jimmy Quilty 0-1 each;

Scorers – Clare: Shane Punch 0-6 (5f), Patrick Crotty and Keith Smyth 0-2 each, Colm O’Meara, Jack Kirwan, Diarmuid Cahill, Connor Hegarty and Cian Galvin 0-1 each.

Limerick

1: Colin Hanley Clarke

2: Chris Thomas 3: Fergal O’Connor 4: Evan O’Leary

5: Colin Coughlan 6: Jimmy Quilty 7: Ethan Hurley

8: Joe Sweeney 9: Eddie Stokes

10: Aidan O’Connor 11: Cathal O’Neill 12: Adam English

13: Shane O’Brien 14: Patrick Kirby 15: Donnacha O’Dalaigh

Subs: 17: Patrick Reale for O’Dalaigh (55), 22: Cian Scully for Thomas (57)

Clare

1: Cian Broderick

2: Ian McNamara 3: Adam Hogan 4: John Conneally

5: Jarlath Collins 6: Cian Galvin 7: Colm O’Meara

8: Oisin Clune 9: Conner Hegarty

10: Shane Punch 11: Patrick Crotty 12: Cormac Murphy

13: Josh Guyler 14: Jack Kirwan 15: Diarmuid Cahill

Subs: 18: Keith Smyth for Guyler (24), 17: Conor Leen for Collins (38), 22: Oisin O’Donnell for Kirwan (53), 21: Keelin Hartigan for O’Meara (58).

Referee: Nathan Wall (Cork)