Mungret St Paul’s secure semi-final spot after four-point win over St Kieran’s in Limerick senior football championship:
By Siadbh Redmond Limerick Leader Sport
MUNGRET St Paul’s have secured their semi-final spot in the Irish Wire Products Ltd County Senior Football Championship after maintaining an unbeaten run in the group stages of the competition, beating St Kieran’s, 1-9 to 1-5, in this evening’s round five clash in Sean Finn Park, Rathkeale.
They will now await the results from the quarter-final’s of the championship as Newcastle West have already gained the other semi-final spot from group two. The semi-final’s of the senior football championship will take place over the weekend of October 19-20.
This evening’s game in Sean Finn Park was not easily won by Mungret with the match level on five different occasions throughout. It took a number of subs for the city team to reignite some energy in their play which saw them score 1-2 in the closing three minutes of play.
It was Mungret that got off the mark initially in the opening five minutes with a fabulous left-footed strike from Shane Barry to put them on the scoreboard. This point was doubled after 10-minutes as Brendan Giltenane fought well in the full-forward line to claim the ball and win a free for his side, which captain John Hutton placed over the bar to leave them 0-2 up.
St Kieran’s replied almost immediately with their first point of the game from Alan Daly, who looked spritely inside in the full-forward line throughout the encounter.
Hutton struck another point over the bar for Mungret to keep them narrowly ahead before Kieran’s transitioned the ball quickly into attack with Liam Kennedy getting his hands on the ball. The number 14 did extremely well to step around the Mungret defenders, who were caught napping, as Kennedy rifled the ball into the back of the net to put them ahead for the first time in the game after 14 minutes, 1-1 to 0-3.
Mungret did well to level the game quickly, with Giltenane giving a lovely hand pass to the young Diarmuid Hynes who pointed the score. Their last score of the half came from another Hutton free, as midfielder Darragh O’Hagan was pulled down on his run towards goal.
St Kieran’s maintained their narrow lead at the break with two more points from Dylan Moloney and Alan Daly to leave them one-point ahead, 1-3 to 0-5, at half-time.
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The second-half took a few minutes to get going as Jack Somers did all the hard work himself to level the game again for Mungret after 34 minutes.
This would be the only score for a further ten-minutes as both sides struggled with poor wides in front of the goal. St Kieran’s pushed ahead again by a single point as Michael Shanahan sprinted up the pitch to find himself pointing a score. Yet again, Mungret were not deterred by this shot and replied in the next play with a John Hutton free.
Kieran’s looked to have the game sown up as Mungret struggled to maintain possession in the middle of the pitch with wayward passing. Daly put them up once again with a pointed free, but Mungret’s fresh legs from substitutes made the world of difference as they pushed on in the closing minutes.
Points from Giltenane and Barry put them just ahead, before a fantastic team effort saw the ball worked all the way from their own goal at the opposite end up to the forwards with Ciaran Uwatse using his pace to find sub Ciaran Deane, who smartly passed the ball across the goal to James Garvey, resulting in a goal for Mungret in the closing play of the game to leave it 1-19 to 1-5 in their favour.
SCORERS MUNGRET ST PAUL’S: John Hutton 0-4 (0-3 frees), James Garvey 1-0, Shane Barry 0-2, Brendan Giltenane, Jack Somers and Diarmuid Hynes 0-1 each. ST KIERAN’S: Liam Kennedy 1-0, Alan Daly 0-3 (0-3 frees), Dylan Moloney and Michael Shanahan 0-1 each
MUNGRET ST PAUL’S: Ronan McElligott, James Garvey, Robert Hegarty, Ciaran Uwatse, Frank Corcoran, Killian Ryan, Oisin Moss, Jack Somers, Darragh O’Hagan, Tom Llyod, Shane Barry, James Killian, Brendan Giltenane, John Hutton (C), Diarmuid Hynes. SUBS: Ciaran Deane for O Moss (Half-Time), Jason Hassett for R Hegarty (40 minutes), Brian Barry for D O’Hagan (59 minutes)
ST KIERAN’S: Ray Noonan, Michael Shanahan, Brendan McCarthy, Mossie Shine, Lorcan Murphy, Darragh Treacy (C), Michael Long, Diarmuid Mulcachy, Sean Long, Dylan Moloney, Sean Ryan, Anthony Mullins, Alan Daly, Liam Kennedy, Noel Callanan. SUBS: Darragh McMahon for N Callanan (58 minutes)
REFEREE: Donnacha O’Callaghan (Castlemahon)