Na Piarsaigh 4-14 Sixmilebridge 0-8: A power-house performance by Na Piarsaigh, before 3,689 spectators, ruthlessly settled yesterday's Munster club hurling final in short time to extend the Limerick club's record of being unbeaten in this championship with two titles from two attempts in the past three seasons.
It ended up as literally a bridge too far for the Clare champions, who were turning out for the seventh weekend in eight but more significantly it was the first day that Na Piarsaigh have got close to firing on all cylinders in this year’s provincial series.
Reports that they had been ripping it up in training were substantiated as goals within seconds of the start of each half laid the ground for a crushing and impressive victory.
Shane Dowling, whose free taking was comfortingly precise for his team, made his first impact from play by picking out Kevin Downes's run behind the defence within 50 seconds and the in-form forward finished to the net without fuss.
Páidí Fitzpatrick marked him quite well afterwards but that early incision set the tone for what was to follow. A week ago Sixmilebridge survived a sluggish start when Midleton flaked away a series of early chances but Downes’s goal hammered home the message that this week would be different.
On a late-November surface both sides struggled at times to control the ball but Na Piarsaigh were still comfortably the more technically assured and their rapier stick work and sharpness breaking down opposition attacks and finding team-mates in space, as well as making use of their chances.
By the 20th minute, the Limerick club had completed a five-point sequence – two of which came after David Dempsey and Pat Gleeson had picked up spilled and loose ball – to go seven clear, 1-5 to 0-1.
The ‘Bridge felt that they had steadied the ship in the 10 minutes before half-time when they out-scored their opponents to restrict the interval deficit to six, 1-8 to 0-5, but so relentless was Na Piarsaigh’s pressing that they only managed back-to back scores on one occasion.
Good start
Any remote inkling that a comeback might materialise was heavily dependent on a good start for the Clare men but instead they had conceded a goal before their manager John O'Meara had even fully returned from the dressingroom to sideline duty.
Again Dowling was instrumental: his long, raking strike, possibly intended to be a point, getting a touch from Kevin Ryan on its way to the net.
Whether fatigue or difficulty in coming to terms with Na Piarsaigh’s tactical deployment of an extra defender, Sixmilebridge didn’t manage to establish an attacking foothold. O’Meara lamented the eclipse of his half forwards, who he described as “a key line all year”.
The winners were outstanding in the air – the Breens, Kieran and David as well as captain James O'Brien plucking down ball as frequently as it was hopefully dispatched – and Cathal King, whose absence from the Limerick team was questioned by coach Seán Stack, was vigilant and effective dealing with the veteran Niall Gilligan, whose guile has such an important part of his team's challenge this season.
Afterwards Gilligan appeared to indicate that at 37, he might have reached the final curtain. “After the match there I feel like I won’t,” he replied when asked would he play on. “That’s the way I feel today. We’ll see what happens after that but look we’re thrilled to have won the county for the first time in 11 years.
“The seventh game in eight weeks: maybe that’s an excuse but it is a lot of matches for myself anyway whatever about the younger lads. I think anyone who watched us over the last number of weeks would say that we’re better than what we played today.”
Quick-witted and clinical
Shane Golden strove manfully to try to ignite some spark up front and Caimin Morey, detailed to be the spare man at the back, raged against the dying of the light but Na Piarsaigh were so quick-witted and clinical that the match just drifted farther and farther out of reach.
Adrian Breen nipped in after 43 minutes to follow up the rebound after Derek Fahy had saved his attempted lob and fired in the third goal; replacement David Sheppard added the fourth at the very end.
For Stack it was the second time he had had to play Coriolanus against his own club and he acknowledged the conflict.
“It’s hard, it is, and talking to ye now I’m trying not to think about it but all the lads I won championships with are standing up there now, deflated . . . ”
Life goes on, however, and the task will now be to improve on the club’s All-Ireland semi-final exit two seasons ago.
“I really don’t know; when you’re on the pitch it never matters to me whether we win by 18 points or by one, you just play out to the end, show what you’re capable of doing.
“I know there’s a mindset that says take it easy but I just fear defeat so much now at this stage of my life, I won’t see many more great days. I want to go out on a high note and now we’re back in the All-Ireland series.
“That’s where we dearly wanted to go since February 2012; we went to Parnell Park against Loughgiel with weaknesses that we don’t have now. The confines of Parnell Park caught us, and so did the intensity that Loughgiel brought. We had underperformers that day, a lot of our players seriously underperformed.
“But we’re back in it now, against Portumna and we’re going to give this a right go, represent Limerick well and hopefully bring the crown back.”
NA PIARSAIGH: P Kennedy; C King, K Breen, M Casey; J O'Brien (capt), D Breen, N Buckley; A Dempsey (0-2), P Gleeson (0-1); W O'Donoghue, K Downes (1-0), D Dempsey (0-1); K Ryan (1-3), S Dowling (0-5, four frees), A Breen (1-2). Subs: K Kennedy for Buckley (43 mins), J Madden for D Dempsey (49 mins), D Sheppard (1-0) for A Breen (57 mins), D Quigley for Downes (59 mins).
SIXMILEBRIDGE: D Fahy; A Quilligan, N Purcell, B Carey; J Fennessy, P Fitzpatrick, C Morey (0-1, free); K Lynch (0-1), S Morey; J Shanahan (0-1, free), S Golden (0-2), R Shanahan; P Sheehan, A Mulready, N Gilligan (0-3, frees). Subs: C Deasy for Mulready (41 mins), S O'Sullivan for Sheehan (49 mins)
Referee: C Lyons (Cork).
