It needed a 63rd-minute goal from Donnacha Ó Dálaigh to enable the All-Ireland champions to edge past a very plucky Westmeath outfit in front of a large and Limerick-dominated crowd in Mullingar.
Joe Fortune's men hurled with great spirit and fully deserved to end the half on level terms, albeit aided by a strong wind.
Ironically, it looked ominous for the small home following early on, Limerick coming close to scoring a goal after 25 seconds when Graeme Mulchay’s rasping shot came back off the crossbar.
David Williams was on song from placed balls at the other end and he converted seven frees in the opening half, one of them from deep inside his own half, in addition to slotting over a great point from play from a tight angle in the sixth minute.
The home team’s only other score from open play in the first period came from the stick of midfielder Shane McGovern just past the half-hour mark.
John Kiely’s troops were atypically lethargic and they needed late points from Darragh O’Donovan and Ó Dálaigh (his third) to tie the contest.
Their other scores, all from play, came via David Reidy, Micheál Houlihan (two), Seamus Flanagan and Mulcahy. At the interval, the teams were tied at 0-09 apiece.
Most spectators expected the Shannonsiders to dominate the second half with the wind behind them, but this expected dominance never materialised as the Lake County men continued to show great heart and no little skill, with sub Joey Boyle to the fore.
Niall Mitchell opened the scoring with a great point.
Limerick continued to be wasteful and they shot three wides in the opening five minutes before Cathal O’Neill settled their nerves with a neat point.
Tit-for-tat scoring saw the underdogs still on level terms at 0-14 apiece with 56 minutes on the clock, and a sensational result was not out of the question at this juncture.
Williams then missed a scoreable free before the Munster men pounced for a crucial 1-02 without reply.
The points came via a Tom Morrissey free and Reidy’s second long-range point of the afternoon, before Morrissey teed up Ó Dálaigh for a well-taken goal from a tight angle.
Another Williams free preceded a missed chance of a goal by Mitchell, whose shot flew over the crossbar in the 68th minute.
With that, the chance of a massive shock all but ended and Limerick closed out the game with well-taken late points from subs Mark Quinlan, Patrick O’Donovan and Conor Boylan.
There was still time for the game’s top scorer Williams to pick up his second yellow card in injury-time.
Limerick: D McCarthy; B Nash, E McEvoy, A Costello; D Byrnes, D Reidy (0-02), D Langan; B Murphy, D O’Donovan (0-01); M Houlihan (0-04, 0-02 frees), C O’Neill (0-01), T Morrissey (0-02, 0-01 free); D Ó Dalaigh (1-04), S Flanagan (0-01), G Mulcahy (0-01). Subs: C Boylan (0-01) for Houlihan (51), G Hegarty (0-01) for O’Neill (51), M Quinlan (0-01) for Langan (57), P O’Donovan (0-01) for Mulcahy (60), R Connolly for D O’Donovan (64).
Westmeath: N Conaty; D Egerton, J Bermingham, C Gaffney; J Gillen, K Regan, C Boyle; M Daly, S McGovern (0-01); O McCabe, D Clinton, D O’Reilly (0-01); N Mitchell (0-02), E Keyes, D Williams (0-10, 0-09 frees). Subs: T Doyle for Boyle (inj., 3), P Clarke for Daly (24), J Boyle (0-02) for McCabe (48), C Doyle (0-01) for Clinton (60), M Cunningham for Keyes (66).
Referee: C Cunning (Antrim).
