Askeaton Ballysteen Kilcornan cruise to Limerick IFC title win
ABK AOK: Askeaton Ballysteen dominated proceedings after St Senans opened the scoring. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Askeaton Ballysteen Kilcornan are Limerick Intermediate Football champions after a comfortable 2-15 to 2-7 win over St Senans at Sean Finn Park in Rathkeale.
ABK dominated proceedings after St Senans opened the scoring with a Cillian Meade goal after just 35 seconds.
Led by Limerick star Danny Neville, ABK thundered back into the contest with Paul O’Shaughnessy soon cancelling out Meade’s effort with a goal of his own.
Neville slotted four first-half points and was ably backed up with a trio of strikes from Joey Rushe and Padraic Murphy to help ABK to an eight-point half time advantage.
Meade’s second goal gave Senans brief hope of a comeback in the second half but it was soon dispelled when Rushe buried a second goal for ABK that sealed their promotion back to the senior ranks following relegation in 2024.
Limerick hurling panellist Oisin O’Farrell was central to Meade’s opener with a devastating run that put the Senans half forward in on goal inside a minute. Rushe was on target twice for ABK in response but it was in the 12th minute that they took a lead that would not be relinquished.
ABK earned a turnover in their own full back line and worked the ball forward with Murphy setting up O’Shaughnessy for a brilliant goal.
Murphy then slotted a point himself that put ABK into a 1-3 to 1-0 advantage with 13 minutes of the contest played. The same man then made it a four-point game with a second score in quick succession.
However, it was Neville that was pulling the strings at centre forward. He got on the scoreboard himself to stretch their lead to five before Ray O’Flaherty’s timely score for Senans.
Neville hit the target again to restore the five-point gap and kicked a third point to further emphasise ABK’s dominance.
James O’Meara kept the scoreboard ticking over with ABK’s seventh point of the half with Senan O’Brien responding for Senans.
Rushe and Murphy continued to cause havoc in the full forward line in the lead up to half time with further scores but it was Senans that finished the half on the front foot thanks to a Darragh Woulfe effort that left the score at 1-11 to 1-3 at half time.
Rushe opened the second half scoring but Meade’s second goal and a fine score from O’Farrell had the lead back to five with 36 minutes played.
Murphy sent over a free to keep ABK comfortable and any hope of a comeback for Senans evaporated when Neville and Sam Colgan combined to put Rushe in and the corner forward fired a shot to the roof of the net.
O’Farrell continued to lead the charge for Senans but ABK saw out the final quarter with ease to seal their return to top level football for 2026.
: J Rushe 1-6 (1f), D Neville and P Murphy 0-4 each (1f), P O’Shaughnessy 1-0, J O’Meara 0-1.
C Meade 2-0, O O’Farrell 0-3, R O’Flaherty, S O’Brien, D Woulfe and J Naughton (1f) 0-1 each.
J Dolan; J Fitzsimons, B Casey, N Barry; L Gammell, P Moran, S Colgan; S Gallagher, A McGrath; P McMahon, D Neville, J O’Meara; J Rushe, P O’Shaughnessy, P Murphy.
Subs: S Whelan for McMahon (43), C O’Flaherty for O’Shaughnessy (56), S Hallinan for Gallagher (56), M Ranahan for Murphy (62).
: J Lane; D Kearns, S Kearney, D Finnerty; S Walsh, D Woulfe, W Madigan; O O’Farrell, R O’Flaherty; C Meade, J Naughton, K Guina; M Mulcahy, A Kearns, S O’Brien.
Subs: C McEldowney for Guina (39), O Finucane for Kearns (56), E O’Donnell for Finnerty (56), K O’Mahony for Meade (56).
: D O’Callaghan (Feohanagh-Castlemahon).
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