Limerick Juniors win through to All-Ireland Final

Limerick won through to the All-Ireland Junior A Final with a battling 1-10 to 1-5 win over a determined Kerry side in a sweltering Newcastle West on Sunday. The win sets up an August 24th clash with a Carlow side who won their place in the final by beating Offaly by 5-15 to 3-8. This was the two sides fourth meeting this year and the two teams familiarity with each other was evident in the  tense and hard fought character of the game.

Limerick got off to a great start with Sarah Collins pointing inside the first minute. This continued for the first 10 mins as Donna Mulcahy, Muireann Creamer, Sinead McNamara and Collins again pointed to open a 0-5 to 0-0 score.  Limerick's midfield duo of Sinead McNamara and Katie Hennessey were dominant. But Kerry began to make headway down the right hand side and Jessica Fitzell pointed to open the KIngdom's account on 12 mins and 5 minutes later she found the back of the net to make it a one point game just after the midway point in the half. Caitrín De Bhál converted a free to widen Limerick's lead but Sara Murphy (who plays her club camogie with Newcastle West) converted a Kerry free to leave the score at the break Limerick 0-6 Kerry 1-2.

Down to 14 players Limerick battled hard with captain Noreen Barry and the excellent Leanne Browne impressive in defence. Lisa Scanlon converted a long range free to restore the gap to 4 points. Then with 5 minutes to go Kerry also had a player sent off for a high challenge. This eased the pressure on Limerick and as the game headed into injury time substitute Mairead Clancy put a point over from the left hand side to leave the score at the final whistle Limerick 1-10 Kerry 1-5.