Goals from Andrew O’Shaughnessy and Ollie Moran guided Limerick to a morale-boosting NHL Division 1B 2-12 to 0-15 win over their Munster rivals Tipperary today.
Free-taker O’Shaughnessy was Limerick’s leading light at McDonagh Park in Nenagh, scoring 1-08.
The sides were level at 0-10 to 1-07 at half-time – a tally of 0-08 from talisman Eoin Kelly, allied to scores from his brother Paul and Lar Corbett, had Tipp in touch.
O’Shaughnessy cut through on a brilliant run for his 14th-minute goal.
Tipp continued to rely on Kelly’s sharp-shooting and paid the price when Moran doubled on a long ball from Brian Geary to flash home Limerick’s second major.
Displaying the accuracy that won him an All-Star last year, Kelly scored three of Tipp’s first four points to help race them into an early lead.
O’Shaughnessy replied for the Shannonsiders with two frees before he showed his strength by bulldozing his way through the hosts’ defence to blast to the Tipp net from 13 metres out.
The game quickly turned into a scoring duel between the main protagonists Kelly and O’Shaughnessy, and the former had to be denied by excellent Limerick ‘keeper Brian Murray when he had a free from the '21' batted over the crossbar.
O’Shaughnessy struck 1-05 in the opening period and there were fears that Limerick’s over reliance on the Kilmallock corner forward would scupper their bid for victory.
But Ahane star Moran really stepped up to the plate in the second half, latching onto Geary’s ball for the goal and walloping over the clinching point, at the death, from far out.
The sides were level on four occasions in the second period and try as they might, Tipp just could not make the breakthrough. On two more occasions, Kelly (0-12) tried for goals from the ‘21’ but Murray and his defenders were in unbeatable form.
The formidable Stephen Lucey put in a non-stop display at full-back, with Willie Walsh and captain-on-the-day Damien Reale performing to a high level in the corners.
John Carroll, who came on for Tony Scroope, did help raise the tempo for Babs Keating’s Tipp side but too many of his colleagues were below par.
