Newcastle West edge Na Piarsaigh in high-scoring Limerick Premier intermediate hurling championship clash:

By John Redington Limerick Leader Sport

“WE NEEDED the win just to make sure we weren’t edged out on score difference like last year, but it wasn’t the performance we were looking for, especially conceding those sloppy goals after we’d kept a clean sheet in our four matches to date.” Manager Derry McMahon was mixing relief with frustration as Newcastle West made it five wins out of five to continue their dominance on the group stages of the Lyons of Limerick premier intermediate hurling championship as they inflicted a 2-22 to 4-13 defeat on Na Piarsaigh’s winless second team in Adare on Sunday afternoon.

However, despite gaining a lead they never lost after eleven minute when playing into a stiff blustery breeze, a patchy Newcastle West performance mixed some slick team play with uncharacteristic passages of nervousness and indecision that allowed their opponents to repeatedly find their way back into contact after the result had looked like having been put to bed.

Newcastle West’s biggest problem lay at the back where the absence of injured county panelist Ethan Hurley weakened the shape of their defence and allowed the Caherdavin club to run directly at them for the first time this season.

However, despite that pressure leading to the four goals that kept Na Piarsaigh in touch, it still wasn’t enough to overcome the West Limerick club’s potent attack where Bryan Nix, Con Hayes and Eoin Hurley were always able to find the scores when needed.

The West Limerick outfit looked the tidier side at the start and Con Hayes gave them an instant lead with a point. However, after Mark Hogan and O’Neill swapped points, Na Piarsaigh used the stiff breeze for Alan Dempsey to point, followed by further scores from Pa O’Neill’s free and Josh Sheehan to put them ahead off turnovers before Eoin Hurley’s reply was cancelled out by Sheehan.

However, once the Magpies’ defence found its composure to close off the runs at them, the clearances started finding their forwards and Diarmuid Lyons, Diarmaid Kelly, Hurley and a pair of Bryan Nix points had them three up by the quarter mark.

But that was when their radar started blinking as points from Dempsey and O’Neill’s free brought the Northsiders breathing down their neck before Hurley’s pointed free in response was followed by a delivery which found Kelly to blast to the net after two earlier attempts had been stopped on the line.

Hurley then followed up with a pointed free, but the city side found a new burst of life when Kevin Daly collected O’Neill’s handpass across the square to bury past Mike Quilligan’s reach. The gap shaved back to two points with O’Neill’s follow-up pointed free, before Hurley and O’Neill found the target in injury time to leave the Magpies leading 1-12 to 1-8 at the break.

Hayes and his brother Cathal extended Newcastle’s lead as play resumed before some sloppy defending led to an O’Neill pointed free and Dean McLoughlin brought the City team right back into into it when he pulled to the net after Kevin Daly’s shot off his mazy solo was stopped on the line.

However, they weren’t given the chance to build on their recovery as Nix netted for Newcastle West after pulling on a breaking ball from a high delivery, putting the sliotar beyond Evan Condon’s reach. Follow-up points from Hurley and Nix had the margin back to seven at the three-quarter mark.

There it stayed as O’Neill and Michael Cremin swapped scores, while O’Neill’s pointed free was cancelled out by Nix. However, the Magpies’ run-in was jolted when O’Neill blasted a 20-metre free through the wall of defenders and into the net.

After another O’Neill pointed free answered Brian Hurley’s reply, Newcastle West nerves steadied going into added time as Mike Quilligan came up from his goals to land a monster free and, following Brian Hurley’s follow-up point, he got on the scoresheet off a pass and return off his quick free.

However, the Northsiders weren’t content to leave it at that. Quilligan was called into action to block Mark Hogan’s effort on the line only for O’Neill to whip the rebound home over his stranded body before Kieran Daly followed up with an immediate point.

While they still weren’t in any danger, Newcastle West, nonetheless, greeted John O’Halloran final whistle with relief.

SCORERS: NEWCASTLE WEST: Bryan Nix 1-4, Con Hayes, Eoin Hurley (3 frees) 0-5 each; Diarmaid Kelly 1-1, Mike Quilligan (1 free), Brian Hurley 0-2 each, Diarmuid Lyons, Cathal Hayes, Michael Cremin 0-1 each. NA PIARSAIGH: Pa O’Neill 2-7, Kevin Daly, Dean McLoughlin 1-0 each, Alan Dempsey, Josh Sheehan 0-2 each, Mark Hogan, Kieran Daly 0-1 each.

NEWCASTLE WEST: Mike Quilligan; Maurice Murphy, Séamus Hurley, Colm Foley; John Whelan, Michael Cremin, Diarmuid Lyons; Ruadhán O’Connor, Brian Hurley; Bryan Nix, Con Hayes, Diarmaid Kelly; Cathal Hayes, Eoin Hurley, Brian Foley. SUBS: Aaron Neville for Maurice Murphy (40 minutes), Evan McMahon for Cathal Hayes (45 minutes), Maurice Murphy for Colm Foley (50 minutes), Willie Hurley for Brian Foley (55 minutes).

NA PIARSAIGH: Evan Condon; John O’Keeffe, Mark O’Connor, Jim Beary; Conor Richardson, Alan Dempsey, Ronan Benson; Dean McLoughlin, Kieran Daly; Kevin Daly, James Daly, Josh Sheehan; Marcus Hogan, Mark Hogan, Pa O’Neill. SUB: David Sheppard for Dean McLoughlin (46 minutes).

REFEREE: John O’Halloran (Bruree).