Hugh Bourke and Adare return to Limerick football's summit in style

Adare are Limerick Senior Football champions for the third time in four years

SITTING PRETTY: Adare captain Shane Doherty lifts the cup with Paddy Mulvihill, IWP, after their win over Ballylanders in the Limerick SFC final at the LIT Gaelic Grounds. Picture: Picture: Keith Wiseman

Limerick SFC Final: Adare 4-7 Ballylanders 0-4 

Adare were crowned Limerick SFC champions for the third time in four years after a comprehensive 4-7 to 0-4 win over Ballylanders at the LIT Gaelic Grounds.

The result never looked in doubt from the moment that Hugh Bourke opened the scoring on seven minutes with a thunderous shot into the top corner.

Playing into a strong breeze, Adare dominated and bagged a second goal when Shane O’Connor sent Declan O’Connor the wrong way from the penalty spot on the stroke of half time.

Their control continued on the restart and they had it all too easy against a limp Ballylanders' effort.

A second Bourke goal and a fourth from Roy Gleeson saw Adare storm to a 15-point victory.

Adare manager Harry Gleeson said that defeat to Newcastle West in the 2019 semi final has been key in seeing his team reach new heights.

“We were carrying around that monkey a little bit for the last 12 months. We probably got it wrong from a management point of view and Newcastle West were ready for us that day. The lads were hurting from that and the loss to Fr Casey’s in the group was another kick in the backside we needed.”

That kick was in evidence from the early stages as they held onto possession and countered playing into a gale with ease.

Ballylanders didn’t take the warning from Bourke’s early goal as they coughed up further chances to Davy Lyons and Shane O’Connor with Declan O’Connor coming to their rescue with a series of excellent stops.

Jimmy Barry Murphy got Ballylanders’ opening score on 18 minutes after good build up play by Stevie Fox but Adare continued to pile on the pressure.

Points from Mark Connolly and Davy Lyons kept Ballylanders at arm’s length before the killer blow came from O’Connor’s penalty. That gave Adare a 2-3 to 0-1 advantage at the break.

Murphy had a sniff of a goal chance for Ballylanders midway through the second half but fired over the bar.

Adare were more clinical with goals from Bourke and Roy Gleeson completing the rout.

The only thing that put a dampener on Adare’s day was the fact that a crack at the Munster Club Championship is not currently on the horizon. Gleeson is hopeful that there is a reversal on that decision.

“The average age of the team is only 23 and I would have loved to see them involved in a Munster Championship.

“It’s difficult to get perfection but we will keep trying,” said a smiling Gleeson.

Scorers for Adare: H Bourke 2-2 (2f), S O’Connor 1-0 (pen), R Gleeson 1-0, M Connolly 0-2, D Lyons, R Bourke (1f) and R Connolly 0-1 each.

Scorers for Ballylanders: JB Murphy 0-3 (1f) and D Frewen 0-1.

Adare: B Carmody; O Collins, D Connolly, E Costelloe; S Doherty, E Ryan, R Connolly; R Bourke, P Maher; D Lyons, S Costelloe, H Bourke; M Connolly, S O’Connor, M Lyons.

Subs: J English for M Lyons (h-t), J Fitzgerald for E Costelloe (50), M Lyons for O’Connor (50), R Gleeson for R Bourke (59), A O’Connor for S Costelloe (59).

Ballylanders: D O’Connor, P Holihan, S Walsh, D Kelly; S Fox, S Moloney, K Meade; E O’Mahony, M O’Connell; B O’Connell, C Kelly, D McCarthy; JB Murphy, E Walsh, D Frewen.

Subs: T O’Dwyer for D McCarthy (h-t), J Leigh for O’Dwyer (32), S O’Donoghue for Fox (42), K O’Callaghan for E Walsh (47), O Brown for C Kelly (59).

Referee: D O’Callaghan (Feohanagh-Castlemahon)