Ronan Lynch hit 0-11 for Limerick as the Shannonsiders saw off the challenge of Offaly at the Gaelic Grounds this evening.
The hosts lost John Fitzgibbon to a straight red card approaching half-time and conceded two goals in a minute during the second half, but still managed to win by four points.
This win keeps Limerick’s slim promotion hopes alive but they need Wexford to slip up badly down the home straight.
Shane Dooley collected 2-11 for visiting Offaly but it wasn’t enough as the Faithful County slipped to a third successive League defeat and remain pointless.
On an evening when Limerick had scoring contributions from 11 different players, Lynch led the way up front with ten of his 11 points from frees, while also missing a few placed balls that he would normally convert.
Offaly have made a habit of making life difficult for Limerick in recent seasons and so it was again.
They bagged two goals in a minute during the second half – Dooley and Oisín Kelly on target – but Limerick hit seven of the remaining nine points on offer.
Offaly had the numerical advantage from the 33rd minute but they couldn’t make it count.
Fitzgibbon’s dismissal – for a wild overhead pull on Conor Doughan – had Limerick on the back foot approaching the break.
Having played against the breeze in the opening half, Limerick trailed by 0-14 to 1-13 at the break, despite hitting the first six points of the game.
Offaly responded with four Dooley frees to settle and they were level at 1-09 to 0-12 when the Tullamore hitman netted in the 27th minute.
Dooley saw his initial 20m free blocked but after Limerick failed to clear and the ball was recycled across the face of goal, the prolific forward found the net from close range.
Doughan’s point handed Offaly the lead for the first time, before Dooley and Cillian Kiely added further points.
Another Dooley free stretched Offaly’s lead to four but Limerick remained in touch with points from their leading scorer Ronan Lynch (free) and Gearoid Hegarty in first half stoppage time.
Andrew La Touche Cosgrave netted early in the second half to provide Limerick with a tonic but they had to recover from the concession of goals to Dooley and Kelly in the 50th and 51st minutes before sealing a merited win.
Limerick: D McCarthy; S Finn, R McCarthy, M Casey; S Hickey, D Byrnes (0-01), D Hannon; P Ryan (0-02), J Fitzgibbon (0-01); G Hegarty (0-03), D Dempsey (0-01), J Ryan (0-02); A La Touche Cosgrave (1-01), R Lynch (0-11, 10f), S Tobin (0-01).
Subs: D O’Donovan (0-01) for P Ryan (55), G Mulcahy (0-01) for Tobin (57), S Cahill for Finn (61), A Dempsey for La Touche Cosgrave (64).
Offaly: J Dempsey; M Cleary, P Delaney, P Rigney; S Ryan, D Short, B Conneely; P Guinan, C Doughan (0-02); S Cleary, S Dooley (2-11, 0-08f, 0-01 sl), O Kelly (1-00); E Nolan (0-01), C Kiely (0-01), P Geraghty.
Subs: D Morkan for Guinan (h.t.), A Cleary for Geraghty (49), J Mulrooney for Kiely (49), L Langton for Nolan (61), S Quirke for S Cleary (67).
Referee: Fergal Horgan (Tipperary)
