Sporting Fingal 2-1 Limerick
Sporting Fingal warmed up for Sunday's FAI Ford Cup semi-final against Bray Wanderers by beating Limerick and climbing to second place in the First Division.
Fingal started brightly and Gary O’Neill had the first attempt on goal when he shot straight at Dave Ryan from twenty five yards out.
O’Neill came close again on 15 minutes only for Ryan to save superbly at his near post.
From the resulting corner Shaun Maher found himself free in the box only for the centre back to send his header over the bar.
Limerick then came agonisingly close when Pat Purcell saw his header come back off the crossbar. Bobby Tier followed up with a header of his own only for it to be stopped by his team-mate Robbie Kelleher who couldn’t get out of the way.
Striker O’Neill then broke the deadlock on forty minutes when he was played in by Maher. The striker’s shot from 25 yards gave Ryan no chance in the Limerick net.
Fingal looked to double their lead early in the second half when Conan Byrne saw his shot fizz past the post inside five minutes.
The home side did double their lead on 50 minutes when Eamon Zayed slotted home from close-range after Conan Byrne forced Ryan to parry away a stringing shot after he cut in from the right.
Limerick looked to bounce back straight away only for Stephen O’Flynn’s shot to come back off the post after beating Quigley in the Fingal goal.
Shane McFaul then gave Limerick a lifeline when he fouled John Tierney inside the box leaving the referee with no choice other than to award a penalty with 17 minutes left on the clock.
Up stepped O’Flynn and he calmly sent Quigley the wrong way and rolled the ball into the net to narrow the gap between the sides.
Byrne had a great chance to add to Fingal’s lead when he was put through on goal but his first-time shot was foiled by the advancing Ryan.
Fingal now moved to second in the table with two league fixture left to play and will be confident going into Sunday’s FAI Cup Semi Final against Bray Wanderers.
Sporting Fingal (4-3-3): Quigley; James, Maher, Paisley, Frost; Kirby, McFaul, Williams (Gannon 55); C. Byrne, O’Neill, Zayed
Limerick (4-4-2): Dave Ryan; Boyle, Purcell, Roche, Deedy; Kavanagh, Tier (Tierney 55), Colbert, Treacy (David Ryan 70); Kelleher (Hughes 55), O’Flynn.
Ref: R. Rogers.