Na Piarsaigh and Crusheen through to Munster final

Ballygunner (Waterford) 0-12 Na Piarsaigh (Limerick) 3-9, Walsh Park

Carrigtwohill (Cork) 1-10 Crusheen (Clare) 0-19, Pairc Ui Chaoimh

Na Piarsaigh swept Ballygunner aside with a stunning second half display in today’s AIB Munster Club SHC semi-final at Walsh Park.

With a strong wind at their backs, the Limerick club quickly closed the half-time deficit - 0-10 to 0-4 - and powered through their first senior provincial decider thanks to goals from Shane Dowling (2) and David Breen.

Waterford champions Ballygunner had started well, with Pauric Mahony accounting for five of their first half points. Brothers Brian and David O’Sullivan also weighed in with scores.

Mahony extended their lead to seven points early in the second half and it was looking good for Niall O’Donnell’s men.

But Na Piarsaigh soon took over. Dowling, the young forward who captained the Limerick minors this year and also played for the Under-21s, was central to their revival.

He slotted over three quick-fire points and found the Ballygunner net in the 48th minute. His second goal, which came just three minutes later, edged his side into a 2-7 to 0-11 lead.

Mahony kept Ballygunner in the hunt with his seventh point of the encounter, but Na Piarsaigh finished strongly to take a 3-9 to 0-12 verdict. Points from Pat Gleeson and Brian Hartnett sandwiched Breen’s late major.

The Munster final in two weeks’ time will see Na Piarsaigh battling it out with Clare champions Crusheen who ran out 0-19 to 1-10 winners over Carrigtwohill in today’s other semi-final tie.

At Pairc Ui Chaoimh, the Corkmen started brightly with Tomas Hogan firing them ahead with a seventh-minute point from distance. The movement between their forwards was particularly effective, led by county star Niall McCarthy.

Carrigtwohill merited their 0-8 to 0-6 half-time lead and might have had a goal but for Clare net minder Donal Tuohy brilliantly denying Stephen Dineen.

Crusheen took their time to settle, however they began to click coming up to the break. David Forde finished off an excellent four-man move with a point, and Pat Vaughan swapped late points with Carrigtwohill captain Mickey ‘Da’ Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald had a goal-bound shot saved by Tuohy on the resumption, and Crusheen soon raised their game. Tellingly, it took Carrig 21 minutes of the second half to add two points to their tally.

The Clare side tightened up in defence and their midfielders and forwards worked well in unison, setting up some terrific scores from Forde, Jamie Fitzgibbon and Gearoid O’Donnell.

Impressively, they found an extra few gears to pull 0-17 to 0-10 clear and all but seal their qualification for their first Munster SHC final.

With a minute left, Fitzgerald nicked the ball into the Crusheen net following a ball in from McCarthy but it was too little, too late. Free-taker Vaughan and Gerry O’Grady had the final say for Michael Browne’s ever-improving team.