Round 4 of the 2024 senior football championship took us to Rathbane on Thursday night with Monaleen providing the opposition. An novel choice of venue for a senior championship match but the pitch was immaculate and the fans at close quarters certainly added to the atmosphere. We came into the game on the back of a well deserved victory over St. Kieran’s last week. Our opponents were still in search of their first win in this year's competition. 

In what was a lovely week up to this, the heavens decided to open on Thursday at around 5 o’clock and remained so for the rest of the evening. Last week's game saw us lose 2 of our starters with captain Evan Sweeney and vice-captain Evan Egan missing out due to injury. Cathal McMullan was also unavailable for this fixture. Into the team came Kevin Nolan for Sweeney, with Conor McLoughlin deputising for Evan Egan. Locky had suffered a sickening injury in the opening 5 minutes of the round 1 loss to Mungret. The return of both players proved a huge boost to team morale with Jack Barry also returning to the starting 15, him only back from New York the day before. 

Dylan opened the scoring within the first minute from a mark, picking up where he left off last week. Monaleen responded with 2 points followed by a second point from Dylan’s left boot, this time from play. Fionn O’Tiarnaigh got in on the scoring on 10 minutes capping a well worked move starting with a long pass from Locky in the middle of the field, Fionn giving a one-two with Kevin Nolan, for the red haired assassin to finish the score from the right. Dylan chipped in with his second from play and third of the day on 15 minutes. We were playing some lovely football despite the desperate conditions, maintaining possession as best we could and getting in for key interceptions at the back. Monaleen kept themselves close with a trio of converted frees before the evergreen Kevin Nolan popped up for a score of his own just on the stroke of half time. Just beyond the 21, dead straight in front of goal, outside of the right boot. A bit audacious, but they’re always good to watch when they sail over the bar. Half time score: Na Piarsaigh 0-06 Monaleen 0-05

The rain did not let up in the second half. To quote Helen Casey, it was unrelenting. But it didn’t hinder our lads. We came out for the second period with the grit still between our teeth. This was on show right from the off with our lads causing a vital turnover to halt a Monaleen attack. On 33 minutes we found ourselves within the Monaleen 45, Gordon and Ian Leonard exchanging passes. A heavy hit by a Monaleen back was waved on for advantage by referee Jonathan Hayes. Gordon decided to have a go with the free hit. The ball made its way goalward, dropping at the last second for Dylan to fist to the net. An ideal start to the second half. Monaleen responded with 2 frees before Dylan converted his second mark of the game. It was around this time that play had to be briefly halted due to some young lads encroaching onto the field. Sherlock’s kicking tee went missing for a short time. Not ideal. Dave O’Connell was being roared at from all angles to provide a replacement, people not realising he was actually videoing the game. Camera still in hand, Dave managed to root through the dugout to find the replacement kicking tee. The footage may not be so useful for Latcha’s analysis, but most importantly, the tee was replaced.

Dean McLoughlin was introduced after 45 minutes for Kevin Nolan. Deano made a miraculous recovery from a season ending injury in round 3 of the premier intermediate hurling championship 2 weeks ago. He was to bring some sought after physicality to the forward line, landing a couple of big hits on the fatigued Monaleen backs. 

We led by 2 when on 48 minutes Ralph was issued a black card for an unavoidable slide tackle close to Monaleens sideline, the wet conditions causing him to slip into the challenge. Selected at centre back, he was immense all throughout the game. It was to be a long 10 minutes without his presence in the middle but he would be back to make a fresh impact later on. Ruadhrí and Rueben were controlling midfield to this point and it seemed like the loss of Ralph only spurred them on even more. Our opponents brought it back to a draw with 4 minutes of normal time remaining but for Dylan to convert a free on 59 minutes. A nervous final few moments were to follow with Jonathan Hayes adding 4 minutes of injury time. 

One of the most admirable aspects of Thursday's performance was how our lads defended when our opponents had the ball. This was most evident in the final minutes when our backs were against the wall. Our back unit remained cool and calm under pressure. Led by Shane Walsh at full back, propped up by Christy and Jack McCarthy in both corners and Hula on the wing. Dropped balls and loose passes were bound to happen with the way the evening panned out but our lads did their utmost to limit these errors. 

It felt like the final whistle was never coming but we managed to maintain possession inside Monaleens 45 for the remaining seconds. A few turnovers ensued but both Gordon and Dylan continued to make it hard for our opponents to win clean ball and start a fresh attack. Finally, on 65 minutes, the ref blew for full time. Final score: Na Piarsaigh 1-08 Monaleen 0-10

Thursday's result makes it 2 wins on the bounce in the senior football championship. Next up is Adare on the weekend of the 12th of September. A win in that game will guarantee us a quarter final spot. A big thank you to all our supporters who braved the elements to cheer on the lads. We’ll get a big push on again for 3 weeks time to help drive our lads over the line.

Team: Eoghain Sherlock, Christy O'Hagan, Shane Walsh, Jack McCarthy, Fionn O'Tiarnaigh(0-01), Ralph Leonard, Ronan Houlihan, Ruaidhrí O'Conail, Rueben McCarthy, Ian Leonard, Kevin Nolan(0-01), Dylan Cronin(1-06, 0-02f, 0-02m), Gordon Brown, Conor McLoughlin, Jack Barry.

Subs: Dean McLoughlin for Kev Nolan.