Model army is on the march as late Banville winner sees off Limerick
LIMERICK’s Championship came to a heart-breaking conclusion as PJ Banville put over Wexford’s winning score.
Banville landed his fourth point a minute from time, but in three added minutes, Limerick were unable to take a number of chances to draw level and slipped to another defeat.
Substitute Jamie Lee and Iain Corbett had great chances to level the match, but neither player could convert and Wexford will be in tomorrow morning’s draw.
Level at half-time, Banville stepped forward with a couple of huge efforts to push his side clear after the resumption, while it was the Horeswood man that kicked the winning free from the 45-metre line.
Limerick will rue Corbett’s first-half penalty that sailed over Shane Roche’s crossbar, while the excellent Josh Ryan and Danny Neville were also denied goals in the second period for the Treaty men.
Billy Lee turned to Ian Ryan and Seanie Buckley in the closing stages in an effort to force the leveller, but they were unable to make the impact required.
Afterwards Wexford manager Séamus McEnaney was a relieved man, but he was happiest for his players, who put in huge effort since their Leinster Championship defeat to Carlow.
‘Certainly the win is all that really matters. We want to be in the drum on Monday morning and we talked about how we may get into it, and we planned how we would get into it,’ he said.
‘It was a big ask to come here. We were disappointed after the Carlow match but the lads showed great character. This group of lads is as good a group of lads as I have ever had in the four walls of the dressing room. Their attitude is brilliant.
‘We gave them a week off after the Carlow match and every single player was back in training the following Tuesday night. Great credit to them. And the reason they won today’s game is because they refused to go away,’ he added.
Playing with the wind in the first half, it was Limerick that kicked the first point of the game when Séamus O’Carroll brought 11 scoreless minutes to an end.
Neither team was able to exert a period of dominance in the opening 35 minutes. Michael Furlong’s point put Wexford a ahead in the 16th minute before O’Carroll landed a 45, while Banville and Ciarán Lyng would both give Wexford the lead only for Josh Ryan and Corbett to level matters for Limerick.
But with Lyng accurate from frees, Wexford worked their way into a two-point advantage by the 28th minute when Donal O’Sullivan did remarkably well to turn Adrian Flynn’s shot over the bar.
A free from Seán McSweeney trimmed the lead soon after, but two minutes from the interval Eoghan Nolan’s foul on the excellent Darragh Treacy drew the penalty for Limerick. However Corbett’s shot cleared the crossbar by a couple of feet and hopes of a half-time lead disappeared.
McSweeney could have given Limerick the lead at half-time, but he missed from a placed ball, and at 0-7 to 0-7, the home side probably felt it was the least they deserved at the half-time whistle.
They hit five wides in that first half, but another eight on the resumption would eventually haunt Limerick. Meanwhile, Wexford were more efficient at the other end.
Banville drove over two long-range efforts to open a lead, before Limerick hauled them back level on three occasions as Treacy and Neville pointed, while corner-back Sean O’Dea roamed forward for an excellent score which made it 0-10 apiece after 58 minutes.
But Banville’s free a minute from time proved to be the winner as Limerick ruined their hopes of forcing extra-time with some wasteful kicking in front of the posts.
“We were beaten in the League final comprehensively and that was disappointing. We were beaten in the Championship, so obviously there was going to be nerves there today to try and get a result of any kind,’ said McEnaney.
‘We were two points up maybe 15 minutes gone in the second half and we kicked three into the goalkeeper’s hands in a row. That was disappointing because we could have pushed on to win the game and we left Limerick in the game.’