Three times Wexford dug deep to work their way back into this Allianz Football League Division 4 final and convert their slight supremacy in terms of possession into scores on the board, three times Limerick came up with goals to knock the Model County back onto their heels.
Those majors from Darragh Ó Siochrú, Peter Nash and Tommie Childs ultimately secured the silverware and gave Jimmy Lee's side a significant boost in advance of their Munster championship quarter-final clash with Cork next Saturday evening.
Across the single-digit jersey positions, Wexford consistently held the upper hand, but the lack of impact they made at the other end of the field proved to be their undoing. Páiric Hughes registering two points and the other starting six forwards mustering one score from play between them.
In the Limerick attack, James Naughton was nowhere near as effective as last week when he set a National League record by hitting 4-12 in a single game, however there was plenty of variety in the threat that was posed by the Munster county, with Tommie Childs frequently interchanging with Emmet Rigter to come forward and offer a physical threat at the edge of the Wexford square.
Missed chances were an issue for Wexford, particularly when Shane Pettit drove through the heart of the Limerick defence but crashed his low shot off the foot of the post, only to get a boot to the rebound and have that blocked by Colm McSweeney.
Limerick were more efficient and they took an early two-point advantage but when Wexford went into their first and only lead of the game, it was notable that it came from two points from their half-backs (Martin O’Connor and Eoin Porter), with O’Connor fouled for a free that Mark Rossiter converted to make it 0-05 to 0-04.
Three minutes later a perfectly-weighted handpass from Tommie Childs into Darragh Ó Siochrú seemed to set up the Monaleen attacker for a handy point, but instead he wanted more and jinked past Gavin Sheehan to open up a goal chance, which he duly fired past Darragh Brooks.
Porter and Childs traded points to leave that goal between the sides at half-time (1-6 to 0-6) but the first three points of the second half all went Wexford’s way, suggesting that the unbeaten Leinster side were about to turn the screw, building on some excellent fielding by Liam Coleman and Niall Hughes.
Then Childs again broke through, continuing his tour de force, setting up Peter Nash for the substitute’s first touch. He duly made it count. Showing patience and composure to sidestep the keeper and place a low shot through a crowded small square.
Against Wexford regathered their strength, and again they drew level, this time on the hour mark through a long-range Brooks free.
Once again Limerick had a green flag in their locker, once again Tommie Childs was centrally involved, except this time he put his name to the score, blasting a low shot to the net to establish another lead, this time one that wouldn’t be reeled in.
It wasn’t that Wexford didn’t have the chance to do so. Seán Ryan blasted one shot high and wide from close range when he felt he was being impeded, then he did well to get a fist to a mishit Kevin O’Grady shot, only to see the ball miss the near post.
When the hooter sounded the lead was still two points, and Wexford had the ball and the chance to force extra-time.
They got their shot off, but it was a difficult effort from Niall Hughes, struck from nearly 50 metres out and a tight angle. A creditable strike flew within a few metres of the post, but not close enough to completely reel in Limerick’s final, decisive lead.
Limerick: Josh Ryan; Cormac Woulfe, Colm McSweeney, Fiachra Cotter; Mark McCarthy, Iain Corbett, Tony McCarthy (0-01); Darragh O'Hagan, Tommie Childs (1-01); Killian Ryan, Paul Maher (0-01), Cillian Fahy; Darragh Ó Siochrú (1-01), Emmet Rigter (0-02), James Naughton (0-04, 0-03 frees).
Subs: Rob Childs for McCarthy (29), Peter Nash (1-00) for O'Hagan (43), Danny Neville (0-01) for Ó Siochrú (53), Andrew Meade for Fahy (60), Diarmuid Buckley for McCarthy (60).
Wexford: Darragh Brooks (0-03, 0-01 45, 1tpf; Liam O'Connor, Gavin Sheehan, Michael Furlong; Martin O'Connor (0-01), Eoghan Nolan (0-02, tp), Eoin Porter (0-02); Liam Coleman, Niall Hughes (0-02); Páiric Hughes (0-02), Shane Pettit, Tom Byrne; Kevin O'Grady (0-01), Mark Rossiter (0-04 frees), Cian Hughes.
Subs: Seán Ryan for Byrne (half-time), Ben Brosnan for C Hughes (half-time), Graeme Cullen (0-01) for Pettit (46), Dylan Furlong for O'Connor (49)
Referee: Seamus Mulhare (Laois)
