Historic first Limerick hurling title for Doon as they take down three-in-a-row chasing Na Piarsaigh

The game was played out in testing conditions.

CLOSE QUARTERS: JJ Carey of Na Piarsaigh is tackled by Darragh O'Donovan and Chris Thomas of Doon at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

LIMERICK SHC FINAL: Doon 0-16 Na Piarsaigh 2-9 

Doon have claimed a first ever Bon Secours Hospital Limerick senior hurling title with a superb and courageous defeat of Na Piarsaigh’s three-in-a-row-chasing champions on Sunday afternoon.

Nip and tuck to the end, Adam English’s 11th score of the day put them in front for what would be the last time approaching the 70th-minute with Shane Dowling subsequently missing a long dead ball for Na Piarsaigh and English following suit.

Not perfect, then, but the conditions didn’t allow for that sort of game. This was about rolling the sleeves up, which both sides did, and what it lacked in fluidity it made up for in commitment and drama – and a heartwarming story at the end of it all.

The scenes at the end were wildly predictable, not just for the historic nature of this success but for the fact that the winners had come so close to this point so many times and failed to get over the line.

This was the eighth year in a row for them to make the last four and it was their third crack at the decider in that time having lost the previous two, in 2018 and 2020, to their city opponents here.

Third time lucky, and all that.

Doon started solidly, just as a side chasing its first senior title needs to. They were three points to one up approaching the end of the second quarter but then shipped two goals inside a minute to the city club.

Adrian Breen claimed the first, latching on to a pass from David Dempsey after Doon’s Jack Ryan let a high delivery spill from his palm. And it was Dempsey with the second, firing home from a nearly impossible angle on the end line.

Tailing away in light of those concessions would have been understandable but Doon never dropped their heads.

Adam English, who has been in superb form through the championship, was the spearhead. He had seven of their points by half-time when they trailed 0-8 to 2-3. Five of those white flags came one after another in the wake of those two goals.

If that was encouraging for the East Limerick team then they will have surely been reminded that it could have been even better had they not seen two gilt-edged goal chances pass them by at either end of the half.

Darragh Stapleton had been hooked brilliantly by Vince Harrington when a goal looked odds on after just three minutes and English had found himself clustered by three defenders when there was a two-man overlap to his right 20 minutes later.

Doon kept plugging away through the third quarter, finally catching Na Piarsaigh ten minutes after the restart and taking the lead back off them a minute later. Some of their scores in that spell, both individual and collective, were just top drawer.

The momentum was theirs but Na Piarsaigh displayed their pedigree and stayed with them. Peter Casey came off the bench for the first time since breaking an ankle in April and claimed one of their scores as the champions responded.

The champions went from three points down to level within seven minutes as the rain continued to sheet down. This one always looked destined to go down to the wire. That it did.

Scorers for Doon: A English (0-11, 0-7 frees, 0-1 ‘65’); B Murphy, D O’Donovan, P Ryan, G Thomas, D Stapleton (all 0-1).

Scorers for Na Piarsaigh: D Dempsey and A Breen (both 1-0); R Lynch and S Dowling (both 0-2 frees); C Boylan, M Foley. JJ Carey, P Casey, D Lynch (all 0-1).

DOON : T Lynch; E Fitzgibbon, T Hayes, C O‘Donovan; C Thomas, B Murphy, R English; D O’Donovan, P Ryan; G Thomas, A English, E Stokes; J Ryan, K Maher, D Stapleton.

Subs: C Ryan for Thomas (37); M O’Brien for Stapleton (61); P Cummins for O’Donovan (69);

NA PIARSAIGH: S Dowling; V Harrington, M Casey, E McEvoy; M Foley, W O’Donoghue, J Boylan; R Lynch, T Grimes; JJ Carey, W Henn, C Boylan; D Dempsey, K Downes, A Breen.

Subs: P Casey for Henn (43); D Lynch for Breen (61); K Dempsey for Downes (70);

Referee: J O’Halloran (Bruree).