Ryan McEvoy’s 79th-minute equalizer kept Freddie Hall and his Limerick teammates on the bottom of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division table as they twice let the lead slip in a 2-2 draw with Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds.
Bray had started the brighter but Limerick hit the front past the quarter-hour. After Dean Clarke’s strike was pushed behind by Peter Cherrie, Ian Turner’s corner was knocked down at the back post where Clarke was on hand to finish from close range.
It was from a Bray corner that Limerick eventually found the breakthrough. Goalkeeper Hall collected and quickly released Lee-J Lynch whose cross-field pass picked out Clarke, the forward gliding past a number of players before forcing a fine save from Cherrie who palmed it behind.
But the home side equalized immediately when a low cross was met by the in-rushing McEvoy who had the simplest of tasks to score.
Limerick, though, responded well to that setback and restored their advantage ten minutes before the break when Turner’s cross was met wonderfully by Vinny Faherty who left his former Dundalk teammate with little hope.
Bray thought they had levelled for a second time shortly before when Chris Lyons finished off a well-worked corner but the linesman’s flag denied him, as the Limerick went in with the as-it-stands table seeing them lifted off the bottom.
Into the second half, Turner was somehow denied a goal by the foot of Cherrie who produced heroics. Seconds later, Lyons fired inches wide before Clarke was denied what appeared a clear penalty and then McEvoy headed over when well placed.
But it was McEvoy that levelled it up late on when he struck to the bottom corner. Limerick had one final chance, deep in injury-time but substitute Darragh Rainsford saw his header denied by another top-drawer save from Cherrie.
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