Limerick Senior Hurling Championship Final

NA PIARSAIGH 5-27 DOON 1-12

By John Fallon at LIT Gaelic Grounds

Na Piarsaigh captured their sixth Limerick SHC title and their third in four years with an emphatic 27 points win over Doon at LIT Gaelic Grounds.

Na Piarsaigh always had an edge but really pulled away in the second-half and controlled their final quarter when they held Doon scoreless after the 42nd minute.

The tempo of the game was high from the start in perfect conditions at LIT Gaelic Grounds and the scores came thick and fast.

The sides were level twice in the opening five minutes with Denis Moloney and captain Barry Murphy hitting the target for Doon and Adrian Breen and Peter Casey responding for Na Piarsaigh.

Casey was in superb form and struck two excellent scores and with Breen grabbing a second and William Henn converting a free, Na Piarsaigh led by 0-6 to 0-2 after nine minutes.

Doon needed a boost and Josh Ryan supplied it with a fine point from the left and he got another after Jack Cummins struck an excellent score down the right to cut the gap 0-6 to 0-5 after 13 minutes.

Henn and Breen hit back for Na Piarsaigh and after 18-year old Cormac Ryan pointed a long range free for Doon, the city side pulled ahead with efforts from Ronan Lynch, Conor Boylan and David Dempsey to lead by 0-11 to 0-6 eight minutes from the break.

Murphy lifted the siege with a point from a 65 and then after Lynch did likewise for Na Piarsaigh, they pulled away when Dempsey cracked home a superb goal into the top left corner of the net after being put through by Tommy Grimes.

Doon responded with points from Cormac Ryan and Murphy to cut the gap to 1-12 to 0-9 at the interval.

Casey and Denis Moloney swapped points after the restart but then Dempsey got his second goal with a superb flicked finish after being put through by Casey. Henn added a free and suddenly Na Piarsaigh led by double scores at 2-14 to 0-10 after 33 minutes.

Barry Murphy gave Doon hope when he drilled a penalty low into the bottom right corner after Josh Ryan was fouled by Mike Casey after 35 minutes.

Na Piarsaigh outscored Doon by 0-5 to 0-2 from there to the water break to take a 2-19 to 1-12 lead into the final segment.

Doon, badly missing the experienced of injured key players Richie English and Darragh O’Donovan, just were not able to mount a serious comeback as Na Piarsaigh collected the John Daly Cup for the sixth time.

They wrapped up the win when Peter Casey blasted home two goals in as many minutes as they eased their way to victory, with Adrian Breen shooting their fifth goal in the closing stages.

Scorers for Na Piarsaigh: Peter Casey 2-4, William Henn 0-8 (7fs), David Dempsey 2-2, Adrian Breen 1-3, Ronan Lynch 0-4 (4fs), Conor Boylan 0-2, Tommy Grimes 0-2, James O’Brien 0-2 (2fs).

Doon: Barry Murphy 1-4 (1-0 pen, 3fs, 165), Cormac Ryan 0-3 (3fs), Denis Moloney 0-2, Josh Ryan 0-2, Jack Cummins 0-1.

NA PIARSAIGH: Padraig Kennedy; Keith Kennedy, Mike Casey, Cathal King; Alan Dempsey, Ronan Lynch, Jerome Boylan; Thomas Grimes, William O’Donoghue (c); Adam McNamara, Conor Boylan, Peter Casey; William Henn, Adrian Breen, David Dempsey.

Subs: Mike Foley for A Dempsey (52), James O’Brien for Lynch (54), Niall Buckley for K Kennedy (54).

DOON: Eoghan McNamara; Chris Thomas, Eoin Fitzgibbon, Tommy Hayes; Jack Cummins, Mikey O’Brien, Cormac Ryan; Michael Ryan, Josh Ryan; Barry Murphy (c), Pat Ryan, Denis Moloney; Eddie Stokes, Darragh Stapleton, Jack Ryan.

Subs: Dean Coleman for M Ryan (29), Patrick Cummins for Stapleton (half-time), Cian O’Donovan for Stokes (43), Niall Maher for Moloney (52).

REFEREE: J. Murphy (Ballylanders).