Galway United moved into second spot in the eircom First Division table following a convincing 3-1 away win over Limerick FC at Hogan Park tonight.
Two well-taken first half penalties after 35 and 44 minutes from Alan Murphy, and a 51st minute own-goal from Ken Kiely bagged the points for the Tribesmen.
Derek MaCarthy pulled one back for Limerick, heading home a Robbie Kelleher flick on ten minutes after United defender Philip Reilly received a second yellow card on 59 minutes.
It was another disastrous night for a Limerick side looking like a pale shadow of the side that were on top of the division just a few weeks ago.
Galway should have taken the lead on ten minutes but Murphy lobbed the ball over the bar after being left one-on-one with Limerick keeper Noel Mooney.
At the other end, Brian Buckley went close for the home side with a firm downward header from a Colm Heffernan corner which was well saved by Alan Gough.
Murphy made up fro his earlier miss, holding his nerve to dispatch a well taken spot-kick past Mooney after Gareth Cooney was penalised for hand ball, and doubled his sides advantage with another conversion after Pat Purcell was adjudged to have taken down Derek O'Brien on the stroke of half time.
Mooney pulled off a brilliant double-save to deny both O'Brien and Conor Gethins two minutes into the second half as Galway upped the tempo.
The visitors were reduced to ten men in the 59th minute after Philip Reilly received a second yellow card for a foul on McCarthy.
Ten minutes later McCarthy reduced the deficit with a far post diving header form a Robbie Kelleher flick-on following a searching cross from Anthony Wolfe.
