Limerick comfortably held off a Tony Kelly tour de force to book a Munster semi-final spot and retain their Allianz Hurling League title
They now go on to play Tipperary next Sunday at Pairc Ui Chaoimh in a clash of the All-Ireland champions of the last two years after a polished performance.
The 36-point tally is the second highest in Championship history, second only to Cork’s 40 against Westmeath last year, while it’s the first time since 1985 that Limerick have won League titles back-to-back after the GAA decided in June that the game would double up as the League final.
They achieved it despite the best efforts of Tony Kelly, who hit a staggering 0-17 for Clare, 0-8 coming from play.
Clare started Kelly at right-corner forward despite naming him at midfield, though while he struck his frees with typical assuredness in the early stages, it was only when he went to the half-forward line that his influence on the game was really brought to bear.
Limerick had started in somewhat ominous fashion when going 0-5 to 0-2 by the eighth minute but the switch of Kelly further out the field helped to give Clare a foothold. A pair of frees either side of a Cathal Malone point drew Clare level before he hit his first from play in the 14th minute.
Limerick’s indiscipline did them no favours as several of the seven points that Kelly slotted from frees in the first half were very avoidable, though their spread of the scoring burden was much more equitable than Clare’s, with five of their front six on the board by the 24th minute.
But they couldn’t quite shake Clare - and particularly Kelly - off. Having pushed three points clear approaching half-time courtesy of Tom Morrissey’s third point of the day, Kelly nailed his fifth from play followed by a free in injury time, after he had been fouled himself, and there was still time for Diarmuid Ryan to ensure that the sides retired level at the break, 0-15 each.
Backed by the significant wind, Limerick started the second half with a flourish, hitting 0-6 without reply inside the first five minutes in what, even at that early stage, appeared to be a match-winning surge, particularly with Kelly showing signs of fallibility as he missed to relatively straightforward frees.
But Kelly found his radar again with another placed ball before hitting his seventh from play, and then Clare hit a goal, somewhat against the run of play, as Ryan Taylor latched onto a breaking ball shot past Nickie Quaid to reduce it to a one-point deficit in the 47th minute.
It proved to be a false dawn as Limerick soon found their stride again. Four successive points gave them daylight and the closing stages were something of a procession as, with the Limerick half-forward line underlining their dominance as their starting trio of Gearoid Hegarty, Kyle Hayes and Tom Morrissey finished with 0-12 from play between them.
Hegarty’s 63rd minute point ensured that, for the second time in as many days, the 30-point barrier was broken, with Dublin having put 2-32 on Laois last night.
LIMERICK: N Quaid; S Finn, S Morrissey, B Nash; D Byrnes (0-3), D Hannon (0-1), P O’Loughlin; C Lynch (0-1), W O’Donoghue; G Hegarty (0-5), K Hayes (0-3), T Morrissey (0-4); G Mulcahy (0-2), A Gillane (0-12, 0-9f, 0-1 ‘65’), P Casey (0-3).
Subs: D O’Donovan for T Morrissey (58), S Flanagan (0-1) for Casey (59), P Ryan (0-1) for Mulcahy (64), D Reidy for O’Donoghue (64), J Boylan for Nash (70+2).
CLARE: E Quilligan; R Hayes, C Cleary, J Browne ; S Morey, P O’Connor, S O’Halloran (0-1); D McInerney, C Malone (0-2); D Ryan (0-2), D Reidy, D Fitzgerald; T Kelly (0-17, 0-9f), S O’Donnell, R Taylor (1-1).
Subs: A Shanagher for Fitzgerald (HT), A McCarthy for Reidy (56), D McMahon for McInerney (64), A Cunningham for Taylor (70).
REFEREE: F Horgan (Tipperary).
