Champions Na Piarsaigh see off stern test from Ahane in Limerick SHC
William O'Donoghue, Na Piarsaigh in action in the Limerick Senior Hurling championship Group 1. Picture: Brendan Gleeson
Champions Na Piarsaigh claimed a narrow but deserved victory after seeing off a stern test from Ahane – who failed to build on a fine start at a sun-drenched Caherconlish.
The question is if Ahane can break the dominance enjoyed by Na Piarsaigh, Doon, Patrickswell and Kilmallock in group one of the Limerick SHC and based on the evidence of this, John Meskell’s men are heading in that direction.
However, once the Caherdavin side awoke from their early slumber, they held a level of control they’ve become accustomed to as Limerick’s leading club team for over a decade.
Trailing by five points when William Brennan finished for a close range goal after 17 minutes, Shane O’Neill’s men would hold a four-point interval lead after David Dempsey’s powerful strike found the net, and they added a flurry of points.
Tom Morrissey led the Ahane charge, as ever, but he was joined on the scoresheet by Gary Brennan and Ronan Fox – the former opening the scoring inside twenty seconds and the latter shooting over two points in the opening half.
In reply, Will Henn looked sharp while Mike Foley came thundering into the contest with a quickfire double and an assist in the second quarter.
When Foley put Na Piarsaigh ahead for the first time with the second of those, they didn’t look back. The sides would never be level again and a 1-12 to 1-8 half-time deficit would frustrate Ahane, who turned in a decent half of hurling.
Conor Boylan, Ronan Lynch and Tommy Grimes were involved in a run of which saw the city side notch five of the opening six points of the second half to open up an eight point lead.
However, Morrissey kept plugging away for the East side and the gap was back to four points inside the final eight minutes.
A second goal didn’t look likely for Ahane, the closest they came was a Morrissey effort which flew narrowly wide after a sloppy pass in the winners defence.
Late scores from Shane Dowling (free) and John Fitzgibbon pushed the margin out to five points. The return of vice captain Jerome Boylan as a substitute, after a series of injuries, was also another positive for Na Piarsaigh.
Moral victories are of little use to Ahane who’ll target a win against Kilmallock in round four, knowing that they have a realistic chance of taking a top four spot – but they’ll need to collect at least another victory, something which has eluded them in recent seasons.
Na Piarsaigh put their 100% record on the line, as do Doon, when they clash in round three, those games are to be played at the end of the month.
R Lynch 0-7 (6 frees); W Henn 0-4; D Dempsey 1-0, M Foley 0-3; D Lynch, C Boylan, T Grimes 0-2 each; S Dowling (free), J Fitzgerald 0-1 each.
T Morrissey 0-12 (0-10 frees); W Brennan 1-1; R Fox 0-2; G Brennan, D Minihan 0-1 each.
S Dowling; C King, M Casey, G Synnott; V Harrington, W O’Donoghue, T Grimes; M Foley, W Kearns; JJ Carey, D Dempsey, D Lynch; R Lynch, W Henn, D Lynch.
J Fitzgerald for Kearns (50); K Dempsey for Henn (53); J Boylan for Harrington (56), S Long for Grimes (58).
C Ryan; E O’Leary, D Morrissey, P Harnett; M Hickey, C Barry (Capt), D Minihan; G Rowsome, C Heffernan; J Butler, R Fox, G Brennan; C O’Connell, T Morrissey, W Brennan.
S Power for Rowsome (27); C Bickford for Hickey (45); W McCormack for W Brennan (50).
John O’Halloran (Bruree).
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