Early Breen brace sends Na Piarsaigh on way to fourth final in a row

Adrian Breen in action for Limerick. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Limerick SHC semi-final: Na Piarsaigh 2-20 Kilmallock 1-17 

Na Piarsaigh sealed their place in a fourth consecutive final largely thanks to a powerful first half in Bruff.

Kilmallock found themselves 10 down at half-time, 2-13 to 0-9, and despite Shane O’Brien’s best efforts and the elements working in their favour thereafter the closest they got was six points.

Peter Casey sent over five points in a first half where Adrian Breen poached for two goals and Daithí Dempsey was also a nuisance for the Kilmallock defence.

With a good breeze, Na Piarsaigh would have expected to be ahead at half-time and their start was perfect. Conor Hanley-Clarke tried to bring down a long-range Ronan Lynch ball in the second minute but Breen was quickest to react and returned the sliotar past the Kilmallock goalkeeper.

Na Piarsaigh tagged on three points before Shane O’Brien opened Kilmallock’s scoring in the seventh minute. Dempsey was causing both down the left wing and won two frees, which in the 11th minute restored the six-point lead Na Piarsaigh had after five minutes.

A purple patch in the middle of the half brought Kilmallock to within two points. Dropping back, Michael Houlihan and Oisín O’Reilly were industrious dropping back and if O’Brien wasn’t converting frees he was making the ball stick in the full-forward line.

Na Piarsaigh absorbed that period with hit back with an unanswered tally of 1-4. Casey produced three of those points and Breen nabbed his second goal in the 24th minute when James Finn squared a ball that Kilmallock full-back Mark O’Loughlin was unable to negotiate.

At one stage, Kilmallock’s arrears extended to 12 points. A couple of placed balls eased some of that difficulty by half-time and they hit the ground running with the wind in the second half, scoring the first four points although O’Reilly had a goal attempt denied by Shane Dowling less than four minutes into it.

Na Piarsaigh substitute Tommy Grimes settled his side, Will Henn followed with his second points and Kevin Downes’s third free undid a lot of the damage. Kilmallock scored four of the next five points to suggest the finale would be a tense one. However, Downes picked off three points from frees and a 65 in additional time prior to Oisín Enright’s consolation goal.

Scorers for Na Piarsaigh: A. Breen (2-1); K. Downes (0-6, 5 frees, 1 65); P. Casey (0-5); W. Henn, D. Dempsey (0-2 each); M. Casey, R. Lynch, T. Grimes, D. Lynch (0-1 each).

Scorers for Kilmallock: S. O’Brien (0-9, 6 frees); C. Hanley-Clarke (0-3, frees); O. Enright (1-0); C. O’Connor, D. Woulfe, M. Houlihan, O. O’Reilly, P. O’Brien (0-1 each).

NA PIARSAIGH: S. Dowling; J. Boylan (c), M. Casey, V. Harrington; E. McEvoy, R. Lynch, M. Foley; W. O’Donoghue, J. Finn; J.J. Carey, P. Casey, D. Dempsey; J. Downes, W. Henn, A. Breen.

Subs for Na Piarsaigh: T. Grimes for J. Finn (36); D. Lynch for J.J. Carey (46); K. Dempsey for D. Dempsey (51); W. Kearns for W. Jenn (60+2).

KILMALLOCK: C. Hanley-Clarke; A. Costello, M. O’Loughlin, D. O’Brien; R. Egan (c), R. Hanley, S. Carroll; K. Hayes, C. O’Connor; P. O’Reilly, M. Houlihan, G. O’Mahony; O. O’Reilly, S. O’Brien, D. Woulfe.

Subs for Kilmallock: G. Mulcahy for M. O’Loughlin (h-t); T. Savage for P. O’Reilly (40); P. O’Brien for D. Woulfe, C. Staunton for G. O’Mahony (both 46); O. Enright for A. Costello (blood, 58-ft).

Referee: J. Murphy (Glenroe)