Waterford senior football team manager Paul Shankey. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
Allianz Football League Division Four
Wicklow 3-15 (3-1-13) Limerick 1-21 (1-2-17)
Carlow 2-20 (2-2-16) Longford 0-14 (0-0-14)
Wexford 1-13 (1-0-13) Tipperary 1-12 (1-2-8)
Waterford 1-19 (1-3-13) London 2-11 (2-0-11)
Limerick are the clear favourites to secure the second promotion spot from Division Four of the Allianz League after James McNaughton’s 10th point secured a crucial draw for the Treaty County in Aughrim.
Wicklow now need to win their last game, but also for Waterford to take something from thei Déise’s clash with Limerick if they are to make up for the missed opportunity.
There was no stage in this end-to-end contest where it was clear who would prevail. Pádraig O’Toole got the game’s first goal for Wicklow but with Naughton scoring freely, Limerick stayed in touch and took their lead through their only goal, scored by Emmet Rigter just before half-time.
Limerick moved four points ahead early in the second half, but a scrambled Jack Kirwan goal brought Wicklow back into it and Dean Healy found the net to push Wicklow three clear. That wasn’t quite enough, as Rigter’s two-pointer and Naughton’s free at the death gave Limerick a draw that felt very much like a win.
It was a game of two halves in Netwatch Cullen Park in the first of Saturday’s contests in Division Four of the Allianz League, but Carlow had racked up such a substantial lead by half time (2-13 to 0-2) that Longford were never in any danger of denying Shane Curran’s side their second win of this campaign.
Strong direct running from the home side opened up the Longford defence time and again, yielding early goals from Seán Murphy and Mikey Bambrick to put Carlow in the driving seat with just ten minutes gone.
All across the forward line, Carlow looked sharp and potent, with every one of the starting sextet up front getting on the scoresheet by the 25th minute. Bambrick (1-4) and Ross Dunphy (0-4, 0-1f) were particularly sharp, and while Jayson Matthews, Cathal McCabe and Matthew Carey tried hard to reel in the deficit after half-time, there was never any doubt about the result.
At Chadwicks Wexford Park, home manager John Hegarty made nine changes to the team that beat Wicklow to secure promotion for the clash with Tipperary, and he’ll have been hugely encouraged to see his makeshift side outscore Tipp by 1-6 to 0-0 in the final quarter, albeit he needed strong showings from a range of substitutes to sneak the win.
The Premier County still had live promotion hopes as they travelled to the south east and they got off to a flyer, with Paudie Feehan raising an early orange flag. Shane Ryan made a fine save to deny Cathal Walsh a goal for Wexford while Cian Smith also struck from distance to help build up an 0-9 to 0-5 half-time lead.
Wexford had the aid of the breeze for the second 35 minutes but they still struggled to make an impression up front, with Ben Brosnan (0-4, 0-2f) their only starting forward to get on the scoresheet. Michael Freaney stretched the margin out to eight points with his goal, but Glen Malone came off the bench to reply in kind four minutes later, and from then on, Wexford surged clear.
Wing back Michael O’Connor brought his tally to an excellent 0-5 from play, Seán Ryan and Eoghan Porter kicked a point each after coming on, and it fell to Brosnan to kick the winner, three minutes into stoppage time.
In Dungarvan, Waterford picked up their first win of the campaign at the expense of London, with Dylan Guiry’s late green flag rounding out a five-point victory.
London never led at any stage of the contest but it was still very much in the balance ten minutes into the second half, when the home side led by 0-10 to 0-8. Waterford stretched their lead out to five, had most of that lead cancelled out by an Aidan McLoughlin goal, but effectively clinched their win through two Jason Curry two-pointers either side of the hour mark.
