Glenroe secure survival in Limerick premier intermediate hurling ranks at Na Piarsaigh’s expense:
By John Redington Limerick Leader Sport
“TOUGH year, lots of injuries, so it all came down to this game and the lads showed the real Glenroe heart we hadn’t seen all season to dig out the win”.
Relief and delight shone in manager Danny Murphy’s face as Glenroe’s hurlers retained their premier intermediate hurling status by getting the better of Na Piarsaigh’s second team on a 1-16 to 1-10 scoreline under miserable wet conditions in Mick Neville Park in their delayed first round group phase clash on Thursday evening.
Although both sides still have a fixture to fulfil in the opening weekend in October, Na Piarsaigh cannot catch their opponents as this head-to-head defeat between the two previously-winless sides leaves them edged out by the result no matter how the final round of fixtures works out.
Glenroe’s success was built on a fiercely tenacious first half where a ravenous defence, led by Steven Walsh, cancelled out Na Piarsaigh’s early dominance, forced them into rash attempts at the posts and left them with no advantage after the sides exchanged the game’s only two goals around the quarter mark.
The South Limerick side retained their shape to open up a lead by the break and prevented their opponents from scoring from play throughout the entire second half. As the lead relentlessly grew through the closing minutes, the Caherdavin club’s hopes of avoiding the drop all but disappeared as two of their line-up were sent off as Glenroe eased home to safety on the back of Mark O’Connell’s extraordinary individual contribution of 1-11.
Marcus Hogan opened the scoring for Na Piarsaigh with a point straight from the throw-in, but was immediately cancelled out by Zach McCarthy before Mark Hogan restored the Northsiders’ lead .
Despite having the blustery wind at their backs, Na Piarsaigh’s accuracy then deserted them as they shot their next six shots wide while, with a much smaller share of possession, points from David McCarthy and Mark O’Connell’s free had Glenroe moving ahead coming up to the quarter mark.
However, just as the Caherdavin club’s frustrations appeared to be getting the better of them, Kevin Daly collected a pass, burst through a pair of challenges and, just as he was dropping to his knees, got a one-handed swipe on the sliotar and flashed it to the Glenroe net.
Building on his side’s change of fortune, Marcus Hogan then added a point, but Glenroe were back in business in minutes when Darren Frewen was fouled as he waited for a long delivery and O’Connell buried the penalty in the far corner of the net.
He then followed up with an equalising free that was matched by one from Pa O’Neill but, as Glenroe’s glue-like attentions disrupted Na Piarsaigh’s attempts to restore their lead, O’Connell struck with a point from a free, one from play and from another free to leave his side leading 1-7 to 1-4 at the break.
O’Neill was the first to find the target on the restart before Glenroe were presented with a chance to open up serious distance. However, Kelly, after running into space to lift the loose ball, saw his shot graze just over the crossbar.
After O’Connelll and O’Neill swapped pointed frees, O’Connell sent over two more before the pair of them exchanged another one each to leave Glenroe leading by five points going into the closing stretch.
Another O’Neill free was cancelled out by David McCarthy breaking the placed ball sequence with a score from play before tempers boiled over in some loose tackles that saw two Na Piarsaigh played dismissed.
With a two-man advantage, Glenroe were able to wind down the clock and, after O’Connell and O’Neill converted frees, Frewen and O’Connell picked off the winners final scores to which O’Neill replied from a free deflected over with the last puck of the hour.
SCORERS: GLENROE: Mark O’Connell 1-11 (1-0 penalty, 0-9 frees), Ciarán Kelly, David McCarthy 0-2 each, Darren Frewen 0-1; NA PIARSAIGH: Pa O’Neill 0-7 (7 frees), Kevin Daly 1-0, Marcus Hogan 0-2, Mark Hogan 0-1.
GLENROE: Ian O’Sullivan; Pa Holian, Jordan Sheehy, Oisín Browne; Shaun Moloney, Steven Walsh, Darren Carroll; Shane O’Donoghue, Liam Dennehy; Mark O’Connell, Moss O’Brien, Darren Frewen; Zach McCarthy, David McCarthy, Ciarán Kelly. SUBS: Eoin Gallahue for Jordan Sheehy (57 minutes), Cian Browne for Moss O’Brien (57 minutes).
NA PIARSAIGH: Evan Condon; John O’Keeffe, Mark O’Connor, Jim Beary; Conor Richardson, Alan Dempsey, Dean McLoughlin; Ronan Benson, Pat Gleeson; Kevin Daly, Evan Sweeney, James Daly, James O’Brien,; Marcus Hogan, Mark Hogan, Pa O’Neill. SUBS: Pádraig Heaney for Conor Richardson (half-time), Kevin Ryan for Alan Dempsey (half-time), Kieran Daly for Ronan Brosnan (38 minutes), Darragh Jordan for Evan Sweeney (injured, 43 minutes), James Daly for Marcus Hogan (51 minutes).
REFEREE: Jonathan Hayes (Saint Senan’s).