GIVE ME A BREAK

Shelfflin’s Tribe fade away to exit NHL & leave gap to Championship

GALWAY face a fiveweek lay-off before Championship after a second half slump against 14-man Limerick sent them out of the League.

Leading by three at halftime after Shane O’brien’s dismissal 10 minutes before the break, Galway struggled after the break and could only add 0-5 to their tally, three of them frees, with the only score from play from their attack coming in the 63rd minute.

They trailed by two points in injury time and managed to salvage a draw through a couple of Evan Niland frees but that wasn’t enough to book a League semi-final spot as they finish third in Division 1B behind Limerick and Tipperary.

Their next outing will be the Leinster SHC opener at home to Carlow on April 21, while All-ireland champions Limerick will continue the defence of their League title with a semi-final next weekend.

“I know they had a man sent off,” said Galway boss Henry Shefflin, “but even at that point I thought we were really at the game and finished the half pretty good so got into half-time in a good position.

“Second half, the true champions they are the way they responded but I think they had 12 shots and scored eight, five frees, Diarmaid Byrnes on.

“We had something like 18 shots and 10 wides or 11 but look, five points return in the second half is very poor so from that point, very disappointing.

“Look, we would have loved to have made the League semi-final and it was well within our grasp.”

Without the suspended Daithi Burke and Conor Whelan, Galway took the game to Limerick in the first half, the vast majority of which they led for while backed by a slight breeze.

The heavy conditions didn’t make for a great spectacle but some managed to rise above it, most notably Cathal Mannion and Adam English, who finished the half with 0-4 each from play.

Similar to the previous win over Tipperary, you felt Limerick were playing within themselves before going on to lift it a few levels, but their aspirations in that regard were severely hindered by O’brien’s 26th minute red card for interfering with the helmet of Galway’s Sean Linnane.

“If you put your hand anywhere near an opposition player’s helmet and it comes off; whether you have contributed to it coming off or not, you are putting yourself at risk,” said Limerick manager John Kiely afterwards.

Galway led 0-8 to 0-7 at the time but Mannion hit his fourth point and their lead stretched to four, with his brother Padraic operating as the spare man at the back.

An Aaron Gillane free, won by Tom Morrissey after another incisive run from English, made it 0-12 to 0-9 at half-time.

Galway didn’t score until 12 minutes after the resumption with Limerick edging ever closer without showing any great rhythm.

English’s fifth point drew them level in the 58th minute and they went in front for the first time since the early exchanges through Gearoid Hegarty with three minutes left.

Byrnes doubled the lead though Niland slotted a couple of frees to salvage a result, if not progression, for Galway.