FREE FOR ALL!

Ryan the hero for Treaty after 100 minutes of drama

THE Limerick hurlers came back from nine points down for the second weekend in a row to edge out Clare after an historic free-taking shoot-out and go through to the Allianz Hurling League semi-finals. They meet the winners of Dublin and Tipperary while Kilkenny, victors over Offaly, face the winners of Wexford and Galway, with the other two quarter-finals falling foul of the snow. ‘A crazy event,’ is how Limerick manager John Kiely described the rollover drama at the Gaelic Grounds that saw Colin Ryan (left) hit the winning free after 100 minutes of hurling via two

different periods of extra-time and a free-taking contest from the 65 metre line. Ryan was Limerick’s match-winner, his score after Niall Deasy’s miss meaning Limerick won the shootout 7-6. ‘We feel we have been here forever,’ said Kiely afterwards. ‘It was an epic saga, one we’ll never forget. ‘It was a good game, played in a great spirit. We just got the break today and we took it. ‘There is great resolve in this group. There is a fantastic team ethic and unity within the group. When you have that, you can do anything. Look at the last two games, we pulled big deficits back. ‘That is something we haven’t done before with this group in the last two years. It is fantastic to see. It instils great belief in them that they can do anything like that. ‘Colin Ryan got the winner. He got the equalising point from the sideline and he got a couple of good scores as well after coming on. It was a crazy event and it’ll take us a few hours to absorb it now and take it all on board.’ For all the drama, neither Kiely nor Clare joint-manager Gerry O’Connor were enthused by the shootout, their preferred option being a replay. But the League is already twice delayed with the exact timings to be decided for the remaining games by Croke Park later today. ‘I suppose it obviously was incredible entertainment,’ said O’Connor. ‘I suppose if it had been 6-5 in our favour we’d probably think it’s a great system but look, we’ve just got to embrace it.’