Early scores

WICKLOW senior football manager Davy Burke has bemoaned the role that conceding three first-half goals against Limerick had in his side’s 5-10 to 1-14 defeat to the division four leaders on Sunday afternoon, a defeat that leaves Burke’s men’s chances of gaining promotion in question.

Going into the game in Rathkeale, there was an element of optimism that Wicklow would be able to beat Limerick in their quest for promotion to Division 3 of the national league, after beating Sligo in Aughrim last week to rise to second place.

However, what chances of handing the Treaty County their first defeat of the campaign went up in smoke in the opening half, in which Wicklow conceded three goals in the opening 30 minutes to leave them with a mountain to climb.

Reflecting on the game, Burke said that going into the half-time break 3-8 to 0-7 behind was too much of a disadvantage to overcome, and that their performance was more disappointing to the Kildare-native than the scoreline.

‘We looked like we were stuck to the ground for the first-half and we were exposed by a very good team. We could have grown into the game as the game moved on, but in the first 20-25 minutes, the damage was done.

‘They got 3-7 on the board early before we even woke up. ‘There is a lot to learn from the experience. ‘You don’t want to concede three goals over the course of an entire game, never mind the first 20 minutes. We came out for the second-half and we knew that we had to start attacking more and start going at them. We were expecting