Na Piarsaigh GAA Club Notes:
Senior Hurling Championship Final AET
Na Piarsaigh 2-25 Doon 2-18
Title number 9 for Na Piarsaigh and arguably the sweetest one of the lot as we marched to a 7-point victory over Doon on Sunday afternoon. The winning margin may look deceiving as there was certainly a stage in normal time when the game looked to have slipped from our grasp. Moments of incredible character were needed and Na Piarsaigh men of incredible character delivered. We’ll savour this one for a long time to come.
Throw-in was delayed 15 minutes as the Premier Intermediate final went to penalties, the Bouncers winning in the end 3-nil. Extra time in that game was ravaged with a downpour, but luckily the rain cleared just as the tie concluded. Otherwise there wasn’t a puff of wind.
Adrian got us off the mark with a neat point inside the opening minute. Downesy would convert a free shortly after before Doon got their first. Foley and Will Henn would make it 4. We traded points for the next while before Doon struck their first goal. A shot for a point, hit the post and landed kindly for Dean Coleman to guide into the net. Calls for a square ball fell on deaf ears but the Dow did his best to protest. Doon went ahead from the resultant puck out before Peter levelled the game again. We went point for point for the remainder of the half with Ronan landing a monster free from inside his own 45, the pick of the bunch. The half time whistle blew with the teams level. Half time score: Na Piarsaigh 0-10 Doon 1-07.
We had a dream start to the second half with Downesy landing a free, and Adrian following with a goal. A lovely delivery from Mike Casey into the full forward line. Adrian was out ahead of his man and turning for goal. His strike gave the ball not one but two bounces as it deceived the Doon keeper and ended up in the back of the net. Willie Mulcahy might have described it a “scuttery ould goal” but I’m sure Adrian would beg to differ. It worked as intended and raised a green flag. JJ added another point from the next phase of play to have us 5 up inside the opening 3 minutes of the second half. You’d be forgiven for assuming we’d kick on from there but Doon had other plans. They narrowed the gap back to one over the following minutes and had us within touching distance again. Foley landed his second of the day to put us out to 2 again on 42 minutes before William added his second not long after. Speaking of the man himself, William was simply outstanding in Sunday’s county final. Awarded man of the match, his tracking, work rate, link up play and contribution of 2-points were instrumental in delivering the end result for Na Piarsaigh.
Ronan landed a free with 15 to play to put us 3-points ahead but Doon weren’t long clawing back our lead. Darragh O’Donovan sent a sideline between the posts to level the game with 10 to play. Will Henn made way for Conor Boylan at this stage, Will having put in a serious shift for close to 50 minutes. We went a point ahead again following another converted free from Downesy after 55 minutes. The free was awarded following a great catch by sub Conor Boylan. Kev went 100% once again from placed balls of which he has been impeccable all year.
With 3 minutes of normal time to play, Eddie Stokes fielded a Doon puck-out and offloaded to a sprinting Darragh O’Donovan. A path to goal opened up in front of the Doon man, Jerome doing his best to hunt him down. He gave a slight dummy before firing past the Dow. A goal of serious quality. There was little Shane or Jerome could have done. Doon registered the next score from a wayward puckout to put them 3 up. Things were looking ominous as the clock was ticking past the 60 minutes. We needed a goal. But cometh the hour, cometh the man. A long ball from the stick of Ronan Lynch found its way into the paw of Conor once again. He turned to find space, and riffled the ball to the net. Draw game. The ref blew on 64 minutes. Extra time was to come. Score after normal time: Na Piarsaigh 2-17 Doon 2-17
James Finn was introduced for extra time, the young buck bringing a welcome boost of energy to our armory. Keith Dempsey got us off the mark in the additional period with a lovely score inside the opening 2 minutes. Conor added our second not long after before Keith raised another white flag, this time from a free. Cathall King entered the fray to replace Jerome, Kingers picking up a yellow for discarding his markers hurley. A welcome delay to proceedings as the ref issued him his card. Shane also pulled off an excellent save in the first period. Adrian and Peter got 2 more from play as Ronan registered another free prior to the extra time break. Our legs looked to be outlasting our opponents in the extra time. We lead by 5 at the break. Score at half time of extra time: Na Piarsaigh 2-23 Doon 2-18.
We limited Doon to a single point in the extra time, that from a free, with our backs not giving them room to breathe. Emmet McEvoy was replicating his exceptional semi-final performance, but for much of Sunday’s affair lining out at midfield. JJ Carey was simply class. He came out with the world of ball in the closing stages, and in the end made way for Wayne Kearns. Tommy Grimes gave an outstanding extra time display, catching an awesome high ball just at the start of the second period.
Peter and Daithí scored a point each to close out the tie and bring the John Daly Cup back to Na Piarsaigh for the 9th time. Not alone is it 9 titles for Na Piarsaigh, it also makes it 9 county medals for Cathall King, Shane Dowling, Adrian Breen and Kevin Downes. All have been there since our maiden victory in 2011. A fantastic victory for Shane O’Neill also, his 4th as Na Piarsaigh manager. The impact that coach Tomás Downes has brought this year must not be underestimated. Tomás has spent many years plying his trade in various clubs around Munster. His return home to Na Piarsaigh has been a breath of fresh air for the group. A man who coached many of our lads at underage, always having such a positive impact on the players he mentors.
The first round of the Munster club will take place on the 2nd of November in the Gaelic Grounds against who else, only Ballygunner. We’ll see ye all there.
Team: Shane Dowling, Jerome Boylan, Mike Casey, Vince Harrington, Mike Foley,(0-02) Ronan Lynch (0-03f), Emmet McEvoy, Willum O’Donoghue(0-02), JJ Carey (0-01), Kevin Downes,(0-06f) Peter Casey(0-03), Daithí Dempsey(0-02), Dylan Lynch, Will Henn (0-01), Adrian Breen (1-02). Subs Keith Dempsey (0-02, 0-01f) for Dylan (HT), Conor Boylan (1-01) for Will Henn, Tommy Grimes for Mike Foley, James Finn for Kevin Downes (ET), Cathall King for Jerome, Wayne Kearns for JJ.
Additional note: I’m not sure what the obsession is with blasting Fatboy Slim at every break in the Gaelic Grounds. The county board had a top quality pipe band there today but still insisted on having our eardrums assaulted at every opportunity bar the parade and national anthem.
U16 Hurling Championship Final:
Na Piarsaigh 0-11 Murroe Boher 0-12
Our U16 hurlers suffered a heartbreaking 1-point defeat in Saturday’s county final played in tough conditions in Rathkeale. We entered the tie having had a comfortable victory over Monaleen in the semi-final two weeks previous, while Murroe Boher overcame Ahane to advance to the county decider. We had to do without one of our key forwards in Joe Daly following an unfortunate wrist injury he sustained earlier in the week.
We played with the aid of a significant breeze in the opening half, racing into a 3-1 lead early on. Shane Waters and Sean Connelly would hit a point each from play in addition to a Shane free. Shane would register 4 more placed balls in the opening half along with another from play. The score of the half came from our wing back Sean O’Brien, working his way up the field to drive one over from 50 yards. Murroe Boher looked lively though, and they kept us within touching distance. Their danger man, 14 Rian Horgan, was playing between midfield and the half forward line, and was proving to be a right handful. We entered the break ahead 8-points to 4 although Harry O’Sullivan had what appeared to be a perfectly good point waved wide just before the half time whistle. It looked to go straight over the black spot from my vantage point but for the umpire to wave wide. Our protests fell on deaf ears unfortunately. Notable performances in the first half from our full back line, Rian McHugh, Cian Moore and Alex Fox Scales. The lads did ever so well to deny our opponents any clear cut goal chances. We maintained that form in the second half along with Fin Conlon finding excellent range with his puck-outs all throughout.
We knew the second half would be a slog but we probably didn’t envisage a wait of 27 minutes before getting our next score. It may read poorly but once again, our backs did ever so well to limit the Murroe Boher forwards and keep them within arms length. George Bourke was a rock at the heart of our defense, as he was in the Féile back in the summer. Ronan Gleeson was providing excellent support on his left along with Sean O’Brien to his right. 3 solid lads and well able to hurl.
Our opponents scored 6 unanswered points in the second period before Shane clipped a free to bring us back within one. From the resultant puck-out, we managed to gather possession from what were a scrappy few phases of play. Daniel O’Donovan and Charlie Ryan exchanged a couple of one-two’s before Daniel let fly from out on the right, within touching distance of the sideline. The sliotar dropped onto the net, and the white flag was raised. Sean O’Brien may have gotten the score of the first half, but this was the score of the game. We regained possession from the resultant puck-out with Shane engineering a free in the centre of the field, and well within his range. As he stood over the ball, ref Tom McGlinchey signalled for 6 minutes of additional time. Shane slotted the free to put us a point ahead but Murroe Boher soon equalised. With 66 minutes played, Shane won possession in midfield. He put the head down for goal but was blown for steps. Murroe Boher converted the resultant free to put them a point up. We did our best but couldn’t wrangle one last scoring opportunity before full time was blown.
The lads left every last ounce of energy on the pitch on Saturday morning and you couldn’t ask any more of them. We may rue a couple of goal chances, had they gone our way the result may be different. But still so many positive and encouraging signs about the health of hurling in Na Piarsaigh. Notable performances from George Stack at midfield and Charlie Ryan at centre forward, while Ross O’Flanagan and Harry O’Sullivan were a scoring threat all day. Liam Sheehan also caused problems for the Murroe Boher defense when introduced early in the second half. Great credit to the management team of Martin Waters, Pat Gleeson, James Ryan, Rob O’Sullivan, Brendan O’Flanagan, Brian Kehoe and Kevin Daly.
It mustn’t go unsaid the poor choice of venue for a premier grade county final. Underage or not, the Rathkeale pitch was not fit for this spectacle. Played on the pitch directly in front of the dressing rooms, there was no scoreboard or sheltered viewing area for travelling fans on what was a miserable morning. Couple that with the pitch not being fenced off. The ref had to ask spectators on more than one occasion to step back from the sideline throughout the game. And all this went on while the main pitch in Mick Neville Park was laying idle beside us. Simply not good enough from the county board. Team Fin Conlon, Rian McHugh, Cian Moore, Alex Fox Scales, Sean O’Brien (0-01), George Bourke, Ronan Gleeson, Shane Waters (0-08, 0-05f, 1’65), George Stack, Daniel O’Donovan (0-01), Charlie Ryan, Sean Connelly (0-01), Darragh Kirwan, Ross O’Flanagan, Harry O’Sullivan. Subs used Liam Sheehan
Subs not used Noah Jordan, Joe Daly, Aodh Keating, Cian Maloney, Eoin Bermingham, Aaron Ward, Cathal O’Mara, Conal O’Brien, Michael O’Connor, Harry Kehoe, Cathal O’Doherty, Leon Moynihan, Odhrán Roche, Evan Gardiner.