Limerick hold out as Dooley runs riot

LIMERICK were made sweat for this Division 1B victory at the Gaelic Grounds last night – with Shane Dooley hitting 2-11 for the visitors.

But the hosts, reduced to 14 men approaching halftime when John Fitzgibbon was sent off for an overhead pull on Conor Doughan, kept their slim promotion hopes alive.

Offaly have made a habit of tripping up Limerick in recent seasons and they made life difficult for the Shannonsiders again.

Dooley was the leading scorer on show but even his impressive haul couldn’t prevent a third straight defeat for Kevin Ryan’s charges.

Offaly had the numerical advantage from the 33rd minute but they couldn’t make it count, despite hitting two goals in a minute in the second half.

Dooley and Oisín Kelly raised green flags but Limerick’s response was impressive as they collected seven of the remaining nine points on offer to win by four.

At half-time, Offaly led by two points, 1-13 to 0-4, despite falling six points down inside nine minutes.

Limerick were quick out of the blocks and a run of six points on the bounceopened up that early lead, even with the hosts operating into a strong breeze.

But Offaly settled and four Dooley frees had the Faithful County back in touch, trailing by just two with less than 13 minutes on the clock.

Limerick managed to keep daylight between themselves and the visitors until Dooley bagged a levelling goal in the 27th minute.

Scores from Doughan, Cillian Kiely and two from Dooley stretched Offaly’s lead but Limerick stayed in touch with points from Lynch and Gearóid Hegarty with Andrew La Touche Cosgrave’s goal early in the second half helping to set Limerick on their way to victory.