Sure to be close again but Crusheen can deliver

IT’S nice to have the guesswork out of the way which is where we all were in the lead-up to the drawn game.

Then we wondered if the high-powered Na Piarsaigh attack would be able to impose themselves on ameaner-than-mean Dillon-inspired Crusheen defence.

Na Piarsaigh had Limerick senior stars Kevin Downes (full-forward) and the even more powerful David Breen (centre-forward), breaking up play down the middle, with shooting star Shane Dowling picking up the pieces andconverting them into scores.

Crusheen had Cronan Dillon (full-back) and younger brother Cian (centre-back), along with the flying Cathal on the wing, to try and neutralise that threat.

Then you add in the other Na Piarsaigh attackers,youngster Kevin Ryan and Adrian Breen, veteran Shane O’Neill, against the tenacity of the Brigdale brothers John and Alan, and also the skill of Ciarán O’Doherty.

At the other end, what were seen as the weaker elements of both sides, the Na Piarsaigh defence and the Crusheen attack – could it be that it would be this more low-key battle that would decide the outcome?

And what part would midfield play? As neither side have ever met in competition before all we could do last week was speculate.

Now we can look forward with a little more knowledge. Not with any more certainty, agreed, but at least we’ve seen them go head to head, and we’ve learned a few things as a result.

We’ve learned, for example, that this Crusheen defence is indeed living up to the billing they earned inside Clare with Downes and Breen held to just one point from play, and that coming only in the final minutes.

We learned that ShaneDowling is the real deal, a star ready to burst onto an even bigger stage, 1-7 from Na Piarsaigh’s final tally of 1-11 testimony to his growing ability.

We learned also that this Crusheen attack, while without a star of the class of Dowling, is still capable of chiselling out its scores, and we learned that the Na Piarsaigh defence, ably anchored by Kieran Breen and James O’Brien, is well capable of holding up its end of the bargain.

Midfield too, Pat Vaughan (Crusheen) and Kieran Kennedy (Na Piarsaigh) were the pick of the four, but Cathal King also shone when brought there after the break.

All that extra knowledge now, so do we know who’s going to win this replay?

We wish! Still going to be tight, still going for Crusheen!

Verdict: Crusheen