Ballybrown secure precious win over Monaleen in Limerick senior hurling championship:

By John Redington Limerick Leader Sport

BALLYBROWN got their Bon Secours Limerick senior hurling championship Group 2 campaign off to a winning start when edging past Monaleen 0-22 to 1-16 in an entertaining opening round contest played at Fedamore on Saturday evening.

Although Ballybrown led for all but a few minutes of a fiercely-contested hour, their opponents’ ability to bounce back whenever they were threatened with being tailed off kept them in contention right to the final whistle.

A battle of style and tactics led to the uncertainty over the outcome where an imperious Ballybrown half-back line led by Colin Coughlan cut off Monaleen attempts to open up the spaces off the running game while the Castletroy club fared best when using the pace and touch of inside forwards Donnacha Ó Dálaigh and Dara Ferland to collect, stretch and strike off the long delivery.

However, illness forced Ferland to depart at the break, not only allowing the Ballybrown rearguard to concentrate on just one flank of danger instead of two but also removing the main free-taker which left Alan O’Connor’s imperious contribution from the placed ball and from play guiding his side to a victory that may have a major bearing on which of the six Group Two teams gains the single promotion slot to Group One for next year’s championship as well as the pair who qualify for this season’s quarter-finals..

Monaleen sent two frees wide before Killian Gavin got Ballybrown off the mark and, after Eoghan O’Driscoll replied, the scoring continued the tit-for-tat sequence as O’Connor’s point was met by scores from Ó Dálaigh and James Coughlan, by Ferland’s pointed free before O’Connor was followed by another point from distance from Barry O’Connor to put the Clarina side two points to the good.

Two huge strikes from Aidan O’Connor stretched the Clarina club’s advantage to two where it stayed following an exchange of points between Ó Dálaigh and Doolan for a half-time score of 0-12 to 1-7.

O’Connor pointed immediately after the restart and then sent over a 100-metre free within a minute of the restart. However, that score was quickly met by Monaleen points from Andrew La Touche Cosgrave and Matthew Fitzgerald’s free .

However, Ballybrown’s stranglehold of the middle third moved them into what looked like a match-winning position through further points from an O’Connor free, Ross Kenny, Luke O’Connor and another Aidan O’Connor free.

At that stage, however, they moved their lines back towards their goals to cut out Monaleen delivery to their inside forwards which gave the Castletroy club the space to run at them from deep, drawing fouls for Jamie Power and Ben Hayes to punish. Ronan Lyons also pointed from distance and Lorcan Lyons sent over a free to leave just two points between the sides with five regulation minutes to go.

Despite an Andrew Cliffe pointed free at the other end, the offensive continued, an effort on goal was diverted for a ’65’ which Lorcan Lyons converted.

Hoever, after an O’Connor pointed free was met by Ó Dálaigh point for Monaleen, Ballybrown dipped into the reserve tank of energy, eased the pressure going into added time though points from Luke O’Connor and an Aidan O’Connor free which, after Fitzgerald sent over a free in reply, left Monaleen searching for an equalising goal that never arrived.

SCORERS: BALLYBROWN: Aidan O’Connor 0-10 (5 frees), Luke O’Connor 0-3, James Carrig, Leigh Doolan 0-2 each, Killian Gavin, Barry O’Connor, Barry Adams, Ross Kenny, Andrew Cliffe (free) 0-1 each; MONALEEN: Matthew Fitzgerald 1-2, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Dara Ferland (2 frees), Lorcan Lyons (2 frees, 1 ’65’) 0-3 each; Eoghan O’Driscoll, Andrew La Touche Cosgrave, Jamie Power (free), Ben Hayes, Ronan Lyons 0-1 each.

BALLYBROWN: Josh O’Reilly; Kevin Foster, Kenny Power, Keith Punch; Kyle Loftus, Colin Coughlan, James Coughlan; Killian Gavin, Leigh Doolan; Ross Kenny, Aidan O’Connor, Ben Adams; Luke O’Connor, Barry Adams, Barry O’Connor. SUBS: Andrew Cliffe for Ben Adams (52 minutes), Bryan Griffin for Barry O’Connor (59 minutes).

MONALEEN: Jamie Power; Leo Morrison, Bryan Canny, Noel Clancy; Lorcan Lyons, Darragh Langan, Ronan Lyons; Joe Fitzgerald, Lochlann McHale; Matthew Fitzgerald, Andrew La Touche Cosgrave, Eoghan O’Driscoll; Dara Ferland, Luke Murphy, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh. SUBS: Ben Hayes for Dara Ferland (half-time), Simon Griffin for Andrew La Touche Cosgrave (40 minutes).

REFEREE: Kieran Guina (Feohanagh).