Antrim’s hopes of progression in the Tailteann Cup were dealt another blow as they were beaten 1-18 to 1-10 by Limerick at Corrigan Park.
The result means that Antrim have lost both of their opening two games in group three and will need to beat London in their final group match in a fortnight’s time to secure a preliminary quarter-final spot.
Limerick will take on Westmeath in their final group fixture in a straight shootout for top spot and a place in the quarter-final.
The Saffrons trailed 0-8 to 0-5 at the break with both sides wasteful in front of goal, kicking six wides apiece.
Antrim full-back Eunan Walsh’s two-point effort was the highlight of the half as Peter Nash and James Naughton led the Munster side’s charge on the scoreboard.
The visitors would dominate the the middle third in the second half and started to convert that dominance onto the scoreboard with two pointed efforts from Danny Neville and captain Iain Corbett extending their lead out to seven points with just 10 minutes of the second half played.
It went from bad to worse for Andy McEntee’s side as Emmett Rigter was hauled down by an Antrim defender as he entered the small parallelogram, giving referee Kieran Eannetta no choice but to award a penalty.
Corbett stepped up and sent the effort below Michael Byrne and into the net as Limerick led 1-15 to 0-8 with 20 minutes to play.
Antrim’s chances of any fightback were dealt a serious setback seconds later when substitute Fionn Nagle was shown a black card for an off-the-ball shoulder charge.
Patrick McBride punched home a Marc Jordan cut back in the final minute of injury time but it was Limerick who would head home eight-point victors.
