Limerick forced to dig deep for Westmeath win

Limerick got their championship campaign back on track but it was much closer in Mullingar than the 4-15 to 1-12 final scoreline would suggest.

Indeed, there were just four points between the sides six minutes from the end but Limerick pulled away in the closing minutes to kill off any chance of the shock of the summer.

The visitors were pressed for long periods by a fired-up Westmeath side who recovered from the concession of two early goals to hit the front approaching half-time.

Both sides struggled in the heavy rain but Limerick supporters would have expected them to canter home after Kevin Downes and Shane Dowling found the net to lead by 2-2 to 0-1 after just 13 minutes.

However, Limerick were guilty of missing several good goal chances, with Dowling flashing two efforts just wide of the right post.

Westmeath, with Brendan Murtagh excellent at full-forward, got back into contention and received a huge boost after 18 minutes when midfielder Cormac Boyle blasted home a superb goal.

And they followed it up with points from Murtagh, Boyle and Derek McNicholas to lead by 1-7 to 2-2 seven minutes from the break.

Dowling ended an 18-minute barren spell for Limerick with a point and Paul Brown got another, with two from Tobin seeing them lead by 2-6 to 1-7 at the interval.

Struck

Westmeath needed to lay down a marker after the restart to have a real chance of an upset but it was Limerick who struck when Brown fired home their third goal.

And yet Westmeath refused to give up. Boyle and McNicholas got points and while Dowling got a brace for Limerick and Downes also found the range, the home side continued to battle away.

Two more Murtagh efforts kept them in touch and while Declan Hannon landed a '65 after coming on, Westmeath sub Emmett Corrigan got a good score to leave just four between them 10 minutes from the end.

However, Westmeath failed to score after that and Limerick pulled away in the closing minutes to shoot 1-5 without reply and give the final scoreline a flattering look.

Another Hannon point was quickly followed by efforts from Downes and Graeme Mulcahy to make the game safe going into the closing stages.

And while the Westmeath rearguard continued to do well, Limerick got in for a fourth goal in the dying minutes when Adrian Breen shot to the net.

Limerick were full of running right to the end and pulled further ahead in stoppage time when Thomas O'Brien and Hannon landed points to wrap up a 12-point win.

But Limerick manager TJ Ryan was quick afterwards to point out that they will need to show a big improvement if they are to extend their summer beyond the next round.

"We are in the draw tomorrow morning and we will move forward. But one thing I do know is we will have to improve," said Ryan.

Limerick: N Quaid; T Condon, R McCarthy, S O’Brien; P O’Brien, G O’Mahony, W McNamara; J Ryan, P Brown (1-1); D Breen, S Tobin (0-3), S Dowling (1-3, 1f); C Lynch, K Downes (1-2), G Mulcahy.

Subs: D Morrissey for Condon (26), T O’Brien (0-1) for Lynch (44), D Hannon (0-3, 1f, 1’65) for Tobin (52), A Breen (1-0) for Dowling (57),

Westmeath: S McGovern; S Power, T Doyle, K Duncan; A Craig, A Clarke, A McGrath; C Boyle (1-2), J Clarke; A Devine (0-1), D McNicholas (0-2), L Varley; N O’Brien, B Murtagh (0-6, 2f), R Greville.

Subs: D Clinton for O’Brien (46), E Corrigan (0-1) for McNicholas (50), K Murphy for Craig (57), N Mitchell for Power (63).

Ref: P O’Dwyer (Carlow).