Two second-half penalties from Ger Collins helped Limerick claim a 3-11 to 0-15 victory over Antrim at the Gaelic Grounds this afternoon.

The result means that the Treaty men are through to the third round of the Qualifiers, while the Saffrons' season is over.

It didn't look encouraging for the Munster county as they trailed by two points at the break but, playing into the wind, they delivered a super second-half display to stay in the championship.

After slotting over five of the last six points in the first half, Antrim took a narrow 0-8 to 0-6 advantage into the interval.

A close contest was anticipated and so it proved as ten points were shared during the course of the opening 15 minutes. With the scoreboard reading 0-5 apiece, there was a lengthy hold-up while medics attended to Antrim's Justin Crozier, who sustained a serious-looking elbow injury.

Killian Phair and Ian Ryan (free) registered first for the hosts but a Paddy Cunningham free drew the Saffrons level after Paul McCann had opened the visitors' account.

Cunningham then replied to a Ryan brace and Thomas Lee made it 0-5 to 0-3 after 18 minutes. But back came Liam Bradley's men with points from Niall McKeever and Paul McCann to tie the scores up for the second time.

When the action resumed after the hold-up necessitated by Crozier's injury, Cunningham clipped over a brace of frees either side of a Mark Sweeney effort as the northerners moved three points ahead, five points on the bounce leaving them 0-8 to 0-5 to the good.

Mark O'Riordan replied with a stunning Limerick point from distance and the short whistle sounded after ten minutes of added time with two points between the sides.

The Treaty County took the lead in the sixth minute of the second half when Ger Collins slotted his first penalty calmly to the bottom right corner of the net following a foul on John Galvin. But Antrim replied a couple of minutes later through Cunningham (free).

Ryan's 21-metre free edged the Shannonsiders back in front but substitute Ronan Hanna levelled the scores again within seconds of entering the fray. At the other end, inspirational Croom dynamo Galvin raided forward to make it 1-8 to 0-10 in favour of John Brudair's charges.

Phair flung over the next Limerick score as they moved into a two-point lead and Gearoid Hegarty made it 1-10 to 0-10 at the three-quarters stage. Phair missed a glorious Limerick goal chance from three yards after Cunningham had belted over a monster left-footed point for Antrim, but the Treaty men were almost immediately awarded a second penalty when the superb Seanie Buckley was fouled.

Collins stepped up again; Collins made no mistake again: 2-10 to 0-11!

Cunningham (free), Patrick McBride and Michael McCann slotted three quickfire points as the Saffrons closed within two with ten minutes remaining. After five minutes without a score at either end, Galvin stepped up to the plate with his second key score for the winners, 2-11 to 0-14.

Cunningham tapped over an injury-time Antrim free to leave two in it but the Treaty men sealed victory with a last-gasp goal from substitute Darragh Tracey.

Limerick - B Scanlon; S O'Dea, P Browne, M O'Riordan (0-1); I Corbett, J McCarthy, P Ranahan; T Lee (0-1), J Galvin (0-2); D Neville, S Buckley, G Hegarty (0-1); G Collins (2-0pen), K Phair (0-2), I Ryan (0-4, 3f). Subs: D Tracey (1-0) for T Lee, S Lucey for I Corbett, E Hanrahan for K Phair, M Brosnan for D Neville, J Mullane for G Hegarty, G Noonan for I Ryan.

Antrim - P Flood; N Delargy, S McVeigh, K O'Boyle; T Scullion, D Lynch, J Crozier; M McCann (0-1), N McKeever (0-1); P McCann (0-2), K Niblock, M Sweeney (0-1); P Cunningham (0-7, 6f), B Hasson, T McCann (0-1). Subs: M Johnson for J Crozier, R McGrady (0-1) for B Hasson, P McBride (0-1) for P McCann, R Johnson for T McCann.

Referee - M Higgins. Tweet

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