Kyle Hayes, Limerick, and Anthony Burns, Galway, in Allianz Hurling League action. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Allianz Hurling League Division 1A
Limerick 1-27 Galway 0-18
**By Tom Clancy at TUS Gaelic Grounds
**A resurgent Limerick bounced back from defeat last weekend to bag their second victory of the 2025 Allianz Hurling League, when seeing off 14-man Galway on home soil.
The loss of talisman Conor Cooney early in the second half added to the Tribesmen’s woe, with the margin already seven points at that stage.
The two points puts John Kiely’s men back in the shake-up for a top two spot – with clashes with Kilkenny and Wexford to come. Galway travel to Cork needing a victory to stand a chance of reaching a league decider.
Galway remain ahead of Limerick, on six points, with the Shannonsiders having a game fewer played
Limerick lost Mike Casey to injury early on, but it didn’t deter the home team, who moved 0-5 to 0-2 each after 12 minutes. Five different men were on target, but their margin could have been greater, with the same number of wides – as well as an early Darach Fahy save denying Adam English.
For Galway, they had a brace of early points from Cooney, one from play, but they too were wasteful with five wasted chances during the same period.
Shane O’Brien, who was sent off in this fixture 12 months ago, was on hand to score a fine individual point in the 18th minute – bringing his tally to three.
Ninety seconds later the same man collected a breaking ball from an English pass, spun his man and dispatched to net from close range.
Tiernan Kileen responded, becoming the first man other than Cooney to score – cutting the gap to six, but Galway lacked a structure that would worry John Kiely’s men.
Next to trade points were the two-centre backs. Gavin Lee responding to Kyle Hayes’ effort.
A trio of Galway points included a fine Tom Monaghan effort, but they were soon washed away, with Colin Coughlan, Barry Nash and Aaron Gillane all splitting the posts.
By half-time it was 1-12 to 0-8 with the sides both hitting nine wides.There was a stunning Shane Dowling save on 41 minutes, as half-time sub Brian Concannon saw his bouncing effort flicked over the bar for just a point.
Cooney received his marching orders for a foul on Barry Murphy. Meaning Limerick would play the final 29 minutes with an extra-man.
Peter Casey marked his Limerick return with a point, almost immediately. This his first competitive outing for his county since suffering an horrific ankle injury at the same venue last April.
Further scores from Tom Morrissey and O’Neill rubber stamped the home sides dominance. David Reidy brought the number of scorers to twelve, another sub making an impact. Michael Donoghue’s charges rallied, and four in a row added more respectability to their performance but despite these scores from Cathal Mannion and Seán Linnane they were till nine points in arrears.
Late efforts from Gillane, Morrissey and wing-back Barry Nash saw the margin move back out to 12 by full-time.
Scorers for Limerick: Shane O’Brien 1-3, Aaron Gillane 0-6 (4fs), Aidan O’Connor, Cathal O’Neill 0-4 each, Tom Morrissey, Barry Nash 0-2; Adam English, Kyle Hayes, Colin Coughlan, Cian Lynch, Peter Casey, David Reidy 0-1 each.Scorers for Galway: Conor Cooney 0-6 (3fs, 1 65) Cathal Mannion 0-7 (6fs), Tiernan Kileen, Gavin Lee, Tom Monaghan, Brian Concannon 0-1, and Sean Linnane 0-1 each.Limerick: Shane Dowling; Seán Finn, Mike Casey, Barry Murphy; Colin Coughlan, Kyle Hayes, Barry Nash; Adam English, William O’Donoghue; Cathal O’Neill, Cian Lynch, Tom Morrissey; Aaron Gillane, Shane O’Brien, Aidan O’Connor.Subs: Vince Harrington for M Casey (inj – 9); Peter Casey for Lynch (48); Ethan Hurley for Hayes (50); David Reidy for O’Donoghue (53); Gearoid Hegarty for O’Connor (57); Eddie Stokes for English (66).Galway: Darach Fahy; Shane Morgan, Fintan Burke, Darren Morrissey; Padraic Mannion, Gavin Lee, Michael Garvey; Cianan Fahy, Tom Monaghan; Kevin Cooney, Tiernan Kileen, David Burke; Conor Whelan, Conor Cooney; Anthony Burns.
Subs: Brian Concannon for Burns (HT); Cathal Mannion for D Burke (42); John Cooney for K Cooney (47); Seán Linnane for Whelan (48); TJ Brennan for Shane Morgan (66).Referee: James Owens (Wexford).
