- Tom Clancy
- Sat, Apr 16 2016
Limerick made it seven consecutive League wins with a comprehensive disposal of Cabinteely at Markets Field. The Blues counted on goals from Garbhan Coughlan and Shane Tracy either side of an own-goal to ensure that their domination over the First Division continued. The hosts never looked like losing their 100% record while Cabinteely appeared to be on damage limitation mode from early on.
The opening exchanges were played in the one end, with Aaron Greene, Chris Mulhall and Stephen Kenny all attempting to give Limerick the lead. Cabinteely struggled to feed Ben Hanrahan, the teenager cutting an isolated figure beside Robbie Williams and Paudie O’Connor.
After a lack of clear openings, Coughlan opened the scoring in the thirty-fifth minute when Mulhall centred the ball and the ex-Athlone Town man finished smartly- the ball trickled beyond Michael Kelly who’d been somewhat under-employed by Martin Russell’s men to that point.
Limerick constantly looked like adding to their advantage though clear cut chances were few and far between. They led 1-0 after a dominant first half.
The second half continued in the same vein. Shane Tracy brought the best from Kelly, while the influential Coughlan almost doubled his tally. Tracy swung a corner which Kevin Knight deflected into his own net. The game was effectively over after 53 minutes.
Tracy found the net from spot as Lee Mitchell denied Mulhall with his hand. The ball bound for the net and Mitchell saw red as Limerick coasted to victory. Tracy subsequently placed his penalty kick into the corner.
The introduction of captain Shane Duggan did little to ease Cabinteely’s woes, but the midfielder was denied by Kelly on two occasions late on. Mulhall did everything but score with the industrious attacker unfortunate not to have at least one goal to his name.
The game petered out as Limerick coasted to victory, though injuries to Colm Murphy and Freddy Hall will irritate Russell ahead of Tuesday’s EA Sports Cup tie against Wexford Youths.
Limerick: Freddy Hall (Tommy Holland 71); Shaun Kelly, Paudie O’Connor (Tony Whitehead ht), Robbie Williams ©, Colm Murphy (Shane Duggan 77); Shane Tracy, Lee-J Lynch, Garbhan Coughlan; Aaron Greene, Stephen Kenny, Chris Mulhall.
Subs Not Used: Shaun Kelly, Paul O’Conor, Jordan Moore, John O’Flynn.
Booked: O’Connor (12)
Cabinteely: Michael Kelly; Karl Byrne (Séan Burke 81), Lee Mitchell, Edaward McDonagh, Kevin Knight ©; Joeseph Doyle, Shane Boyle, Oscar Brennan, Ollie Hamzat (Aaron Brilly ht); Michael Brown (Stephen Hanley ht).
Subs not used: Cathal Gillen (gk), Andrew Wall, Llyod Cairns, Shane Heffernan.
Booked: McDonagh (3), Byrne (20)
Sent off: Mitchell (69)
Referee: Andrew Mullally
Attendance: 1,348
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Garbhan Coughlan (Limerick)
