Na Piarsaigh comfortably see off Ballybrown to earn first win of Limerick SHC
STAR MAN: Na Piarsaigh never looked in danger of falling short and cruised home with Kevin Downes landing 0-8 en-route to victory. Pic: Tom Beary/Sportsfile.
Na Piarsaigh earned their first win of the 2025 Limerick SHC after comfortably seeing off Ballybrown on a 0-21 to 1-10 scoreline in Claughaun.
Shane O’Neill’s men never looked in danger of falling short and cruised home with Kevin Downes landing 0-8 en-route to victory.
Ballybrown were overly reliant on Limerick’s Aidan O’Connor, who accounted for all but one of their scores across the hour.
Na Piarsaigh moved onto three points ahead of the break of a couple of weeks, while Ballybrown stay put on the two points they earned after the win over Ahane in round one.
The Caherdavin outfit had a strong breeze in their favour in the first half and wasted no time in using it with Downes and Ronan Lynch on target inside the opening three minutes.
Davy Hall replied for Ballybrown but two JJ Carey strikes and another from Lynch saw Na Piarsaigh 0-5 to 0-1 up early doors.
Daithi Dempsey then raced in own goal and looked to have slotted the first goal only for Ballybrown corner back Ned Quinn to pull off a clearance off the line.
O’Connor got his first of the game on 11 minutes to cut the gap to four but points from Keith Dempsey and Downes confirmed Na Piarsaigh’s comfortable margin.
Mike Foley then sent over from long range for the light blues after another O’Connor free. The same man continued to keep his side in touch from placed balls in the run up to half time but it was Na Piarsaigh that led by 0-11 to 0-5 at the short whistle.
Ballybrown would have been hoping for a fast start at the beginning of the second half and were bolstered by O’Connor hitting the target but it was one-way traffic from there.
William O’Donoghue started to dominate in midfield, while Downes, Adrian Breen and Keith Dempsey possessed all the danger up front. Daithi Dempsey and Ronan Lynch then pulled the strings centre forward and centre back respectively.
Two long range Ronan Lynch frees had Na Piarsaigh 10 clear midway through the second half and it was only a late O’Connor goal, following a defensive error, that put a gloss on the scoreline.
It was left to Downes to land the final score for Na Piarsaigh who were full value for the eight-point winning margin.
K Downes (0-8, 6f), R Lynch (0-4, 4f), JJ Carey and K Dempsey (0-3 each), A Breen (0-2), M Foley (0-1).
A O’Connor (1-9, 8f, 1 ’65), D Hall (0-1).
S Dowling; E McEvoy, C King, V Harrington; M Foley, R Lynch, T Grimes; J Finn, W O’Donoghue; JJ Carey, D Dempsey, K Dempsey; K Downes, W Henn, A Breen.
S Long for King (h-t), W Kearns for Finn (43), D Lynch for Henn (51).
C Hedderman; N Quinn, C Coughlan, K Punch; M Gavin, J Adams, J Coughlan; K Power, R Griffin; L Doolan, A O’Connor, R Kenny; B Adams, B Griffin, D Hall.
M Kiely for Hall (39), D Hartnett for Power (54), B Smyth for Doolan (55).
E Stapleton (Doon).
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