Garryspillane book Limerick premier intermediate hurling semi-final spot as Na Piarsaigh suffer relegation:
By John Redington Limerick Leader Sport
“RELIEF,” was manager Aaron Considine’s first thought as Garryspillane trooped off the sodden, windswept Canon Hayes Park in Caherconlish on Saturday afternoon with a 1-14 to 0-14 victory that qualified them for the Lyons of Limerick county premier intermediate hurling semi-finals and condemned opponents Na Piarsaigh to relegation for 2025.
Despite taking to the field with four wins under their belt against opponents who had lost all six of their outings, Garryspillane never looked like a side confident of victory.
Although the Bouncers managed to to build up enough of a lead to last it out right to the end from seven unanswered scores in a 12-minute spell spanning the break, any time they found some momentum, their composure seemed to let them down, not helped by the atrocious conditions turning handling and shooting into a lottery.
With their backs to the wall, Na Piarsaigh made the most of Garryspillane’s discomfort by keeping their game tight and drawing fouls to hold their opponents’ lead within manageable proportions.
Back to within a goal with five minutes to go, the Caherdavin side briefly appeared to gain the momentum for a drive for the line, but their efforts floundered on their difficulties with scoring from play and on the inspiration provided by Dylan O’Shea and Mark Quinlan to ensure that the Bouncers’ first season since their relegation from senior didn’t end in disappointment.
Playing into the gale, Na Piarsaigh struggled to get the ball out of their own half but, despite Ryan Tobin getting them off the mark with an early point.
Garryspillane were slow to turn superiority into scores until Hugh Flanagan’s follow-up point was followed by Callum Sheehan doubling on a Dylan O’Shea delivery to the back of the net for a tonic goal.
However, the five-point lead failed to inspire them and, with anxiety creeping into their play, the Northsiders found their opening point off Pat Gleeson’s free which was matched by Flanagan finishing off a pass and return from his quick free.
Caught between not taking rash shots and conceding the turnover by trying a pass too many times in the difficult condition, the Bouncers composure let them down for Pa O’Neill’s free.
Marcus Hogan and Mark Hogan then brought the Northsiders breathing down their necks with further scores. Flanagan’s pointed free and O’Shea’s score settled nerves going before Na Piarsaigh could draw any closer and, coming up to the break, O’Shea with a point and frees from Flanagan and Mark Quinlan added some substance to a half-time lead of 1-8 to 0-4.
Quick points from O’Shea and Colin Ryan added to Garryspillane’s advantage on the restart but, after O’Neill’s pointed free was met by one from O’Shea and Bryan Heavey’s shot off a defence-splitting attack was stopped on the line by Evan Condon, the wobbles crept into Garryspillane’s game again.
Playing off the turnover, the Caherdavin club drew a succession of fouls by running at the opposing defence. Callum Sheehan’s flashed an wffort wide of the far post before Kevin Daly’s chance at the other end was stopped on the line. With O’Neill in metronomic form off the placed ball, he sent two frees and then another three after one from James O’Brien over the black spot to slice the gap down to just two points with ten regulation minutes to go.
Two Flanagan pointed frees broke Na Piarsaigh’s relentless drive towards parity.
When O’Neill converted another free, nerves started to jangle again. However, the Caherdavin side failed to draw any closer before Quinlan’s shot off Flanagan’s delivery scorched just over the crossbar as the stopwatch ticked into added time.
Despite O’Neill bagging Na Piarsaigh’s second score from play and Condon coming off his goal line to convert a 100-metre free, they couldn’t find the scores needed to secure safety before the final whistle blew.
SCORERS: GARRYSPILLANE: Hugh Flanagan 0-6 (4 frees), Dylan O’Shea 0-4 (1 free), Calum Sheehan 1-0, Mark Quinlan 0-2 (1 free), Ryan Tobin, Colin Ryan 0-1 each; NA PIARSAIGH: Pa O’Neill 0-9 (8 frees), Pat Gleeson (free), Marcus Hogan, Mark Hogan, James O’Brien (free), Evan Condon (free) 0-1 each.
GARRYSPILLANE: Adam Sheehan; James O’Sullivan, Robert Sampson, Ciarán Sheehan; Declan Heavey, Mark Quinlan, Jamie Morrissey; Josh Dineen, Dylan O’Shea; Ryan Tobin, Bryan Heavey, Eoin O’Mahony; Calum Sheehan, Colin Ryan, Hugh Flanagan. SUBS: Roibeard Donovan for Jamie Morrissey (50 minutes),Shane Ryan for Eoin O’Mahony (54 minutes).
NA PIARSAIGH: Evan Condon; John O’Keeffe, Mark O’Connor, Pádraig Heaney; Jim Beary, James O’Brien, Ronan Benson; Pat Gleeson, Kieran Daly; Pa O’Neill, Evan Sweeney, Josh Sheehan; Marcus Hogan, Kevin Daly, Mark Hogan. SUBS: James Daly for Jim Beary (49 minutes), Niall Buckley for Kieran Daly (56 minutes).
REFEREE: Timmy McGrath (Oola).