Francis shock Limerick- September 28, 2000 Limerick 1 St. Francis 4 Limerick fans turned up at Hogan Park last night to see their team add another three points to their league tally in what looked a nailed-down home win - but nobody told St. Francis that and the Dublin club surprised everybody with an emphatic victory. St. Francis had not won a League or Cup match since the start of the season and languished in joint bottom of division one. But form went out of the window in the rearranged match which had been postponed because of the fuel dispute. The conditions at Hogan Park were not suitable for good football. The mud was knee deep but that did not seem to worry the visitors as they took the lead after 28 minutes when Gareth Lawson pounced to score. Eight minutes later the same player added a second and a shock result was on. When Ross McNally sprung the Limerick offside trap before beating the Limerick goalkeeper two minutes before the break, a shocked silence rang around the Limerick ground. Limerick were little better in the second period and were again caught out by St. Francis in the 56th minute when Barry Lyons picked up the ball in midfield and walked through their defence to make it 4-0. The home team did get a consolation goal just before the end through Albert Finnan, but they will take a long time to get over this defeat.
Limerick: Fitzpatrick, Dunphy, Finnan, O'Halloran, D. Whyte, Purcell, Hughes, Ryan, Crowley, McCarthy, Flaherty. |