McNamara praises ‘unbelievable’ Adare defence

IT was a win forged from an iron will, this Munster senior hurling semi-final, a will personified in Adare’s outstanding full-back trio of Stephen Lavin, JP Healy and Stephen O’Connell.

“Unbelievable,” was teammate Wayne McNamara’s summary, “To hold a full-forward line of Toomevara’s calibre, a full-forward line many counties would love to have, to restrict Toomevara to just ten points in total — fantastic.”

In the middle of that trio, marking John O’Brien, JP Healy was only too aware, as the clock ticked down, that Adare were desperately defending a three-point lead.