Sporting Fingal 2 - 0 Limerick 37

An early Brian Cleary own goal, followed by Collie Byrne’s strike just before half time gave Sporting Fingal their fifth straight league win ahead of their important game away at Waterford later in the week. Cleary’s og came after just over a minute and despite some good chances in the first half, Byrne’s forty second minute strike all but ended the game.

Sporting got off to a flier with Cleary’s mishap coming after only sixty six seconds. Robbie Doyle played a fantastic ball from his own half to Peter Hynes behind the Limerick defence. After being forced wide Hynes managed a great low ball across goal, which Cleary could only help into his own net, wrecking Limerick’s hopes of another away win in the capital.

In truth, Limerick should have hit back immediately after the impressive Gary Sheehan got in behind Aiden Collins following Dave Ryan’s long ball. However when in on goal, against a narrow angle, Sheehan shot just past the far post.

Conan Byrne missed a great chance in front of goal only moments later as the first five minutes were as entertaining as they were incident-filled. However the next chance didn’t come for another half hour, when Brian Cleary was forced to clear off his line after good play from Robbie Doyle.

In the forty second minute, Byrne doubled Sporting’s lead, thanks to a brilliant ball in by Paul Caffrey. Byrne had nothing to do other than tap it in after Caffrey’s sublime ball cut out all of the defenders, only six yards from goal.

Again Limerick should have responded immediately, this time after a corner. However after Williams parried Dave Ryan’s, Sheehan’s follow up was cleared off the line by Derek Tyrell’s desperate last-ditch tackle. There was still time for Doyle to volley off the bar after McArdle caught out the visiting defence before the ref blew for half time at 2-0.

James Hayes had an effort saved just after the hour for Limerick, again after the impressive Sheehan battled well on the ball, however Limerick were struggling against a confident Sporting side.

The second half casually passed by for the hosts without any major difficulties as Limerick struggled to maintain their recent good league form. The win moves Sporting into an overnight second place, awaiting Shels’ and Waterford’s exploits tomorrow night.

A fifth straight win gives Liam Buckley’s men an even stronger case for title challengers, as their squad seems to improve with every outing. Limerick need to regroup after this game before their upcoming game against Longford.

Sporting Fingal: Steve Williams; Derek Tyrrell, Aidan Collins, Chris Deans, Brian Gannon; Conan Byrne, Colm James, Paul Caffrey, Fiachra McArdle; Peter Hynes (Dinny Corcoran 77), Robbie Doyle (Brian Morrisroe 90)
Subs not used: James Hussey, Stephen Caffrey, Joey O’Neill.

Limerick 37: Dave Ryan; Brendan Daly, Paul Danaher, Tommy Barrett, Brian Cleary (Peter White 46); Jason Hughes, Paul Walsh, Wayne Colbert, Chimka Manjor (James Hayes 57); David Ryan (Alan Carrol 79), Garry Sheahan.
Subs not used: Stephen Goggin, Brian Collopy.

Referee: Phil Caschera.

Attendance: 382

Man of the Match: Peter Hynes (Sporting Fingal) - He won an awful lot of balls tonight.