Slick Na Piarsaigh gain revenge to eliminate champions Patrickswell

The city side will face Doon in the final

Conor Boylan of Na Piarsaigh in action against Josh Considine and Aaron Gillane of Patrickswell during the Limerick SHE semi-final. Picture: Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile

Limerick SHC: Na Piarsaigh 1-25 Patricksell 0-17

Na Piarsaigh’s experience and efficiency were too much for Patrickswell in this Limerick SHC semi-final at the LIT Gaelic Grounds Saturday night.

The winners hit the last seven points in a row to underline their class, but they were also aided by the ‘Well playing the second half with 14 players due to a sending-off.

“We’re thrilled to just get over the line and put our names in the hat now for the county final,” said Na Piarsaigh manager Kieran Bermingham.

“We’re thrilled that we’re training again this week.

“We’re pleased with how we performed tonight, but we have to get real, too — it was 15 on 14, so that stacks the odds in our favours. It’ll be a very different game next weekend.” Both sides rattled off the scores early on: seven minutes in and Na Piarsaigh led 0-6 to 0-3, William Henn’s accuracy catching the eye.

The city side eventually hit four in a row before Aaron Gillane stopped the rot for Patrickswell, 0-7 to 0-4 on 10 minutes. He and fellow Limerick star Cian Lynch reduced the gap to one by the time the water break rolled around on 17 minutes.

Henn and Gillane then swapped frees but Will O’Donoghue helped Na Piarsaigh to an 0-11 to 0-8 lead by the 25th minute. Gillane, inevitably, responded, but Henn and O’Donoghue found the range in a lengthy spell of injury-time necessitated by a Kevin Downes hand injury.

It got worse for the ‘Well when Seanie O’Brien departed on a second yellow card, collected fouling Adrian Breen on his way to getting Na Piarsaigh’s last point of the half: 0-14 to 0-9 at the break and Patrickswell and a man down.

Credit the ‘Well, they fought back on the resumption with Lynch (two) and Diarmuid Byrnes (free) cutting the deficit to two. Na Piarsaigh were slow to respond — until David Dempsey soloed through and finished cleverly to the net: 1-14 to 0-12 six minutes into the second half.

Lynch (65) and Byrnes swapped points but Henn helped his side to a 1-17 to 0-15 lead going into the second water-break.

Diarmaid Byrnes of Patrickswell reacts after defeat. Picture: Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile

Gillane (free) and Byrnes (free) cut the lead to four with eight minutes left but the ‘Well needed a goal to have a chance of winning, and they struggled to get past Ronan Lynch as the spare man in the Na Piarsaigh defence.

Henn and Grimes stretched their lead, however, 1-21 to 0-17, with less than five minutes left and Na Piarsaigh saw the game out, picking off scores at their ease to the final whistle.

Manager Bermingham was quick to stress that the injured Kevin Downes would figure if he recovers from the injury sustained on Saturday — and to acknowledge the input of coach Declan Fanning, formerly of Tipperary: “I’m not sure about Kevin’s injury, I just know it takes a hell of a belt for him to go down roaring like that. He’s one of the first names on our team sheet, so if he’s fit he’ll be playing.

“Declan is a great guy, a great coach, he’s integrated himself well into the group.

Training is fun — if you came down to training some nights you’d wonder if we are training. It’s a joy to be there.” 

Next weekend is the big test, and Bermingham acknowledged the quality of Doon, the side Na Piarsaigh face in this coming Saturday: “They beat a very good Kilmallock side so they’re in the final because they deserve to be there, and we’re there because we deserve to be there. That’ll tell a new tale next week.”

Scorers for Na Piarsaigh: W. Henn (0-9, 6 frees); D. Dempsey (1-1); R. Lynch (0-3, free, 2 65s); W. O’Donoghue, K. Downes, T. Grimes, P. Casey (0-2 each); A. Breen, J. Boylan, C. Boylan, A. McNamara (0-1 each).

Scorers for Patrickswell: A. Gillane (0-9, 7 frees); C. Lynch, D. Byrnes (2 frees)(0-3); K. O’Brien, J. Flynn (0-1 each).

PATRICKSWELL: B. Murray, S. O’Brien, N. Foley, T. Nolan, P. Maher, D. Byrnes, M. Carmody, J. Considine, C. Lynch (c), J. Kelleher, K. O’Brien, J. Flynn, J. Gillane, A. Gillane, T. O’Brien.

Subs: C. Fitzgerald for Carmody (inj, 37); P. Kirby for T. O’Brien (47).

NA PIARSAIGH: P. Kennedy, J. Boylan, M. Casey, C. King, K. Kennedy, R. Lynch, A. Dempsey, T. Grimes, W. O’Donoghue (c), A. Breen, K. Downes, D. Dempsey, P. Casey, C. Boylan, W. Henn.

Subs: A. McNamara for Boylan (blood, 10-12); A. McNamara for Downes (inj, 28); M. Foley for Grimes (58); J. O’Brien for Kennedy (59); N. Buckley for King (61); C. King for Dempsey (blood, 62-4).

Referee: M. Sexton (Bruree).