Preview: Senior Hurling Championship Semi-Final Vs Kilmallock
All roads lead to Rathkeale this Sunday as our senior hurlers aim to secure a spot in the 2024 county final. Our opponents, fresh off a 2-point win over Ballybrown in last weekend's quarter-final, will arrive at Mick Neville Park looking to overturn the result from the group stage back in September. The Balbec finished 3rd in the group, one place behind ourselves. They suffered a 1-point loss to Doon in their opening game, bouncing back in round 2 to defeat Mungret by the same margin. They scored a victory over Ahane in their third game prior to our meeting in round 4. They rounded out the group stage with a 4-point win over Patrickswell.
The boy JJ.
We finished second in the group, one place behind table toppers Doon. Both teams finished level on points but Doon would qualify in first place due to the head-to-head rule. See a brief report on each game below.
The squad as selected in the programme for Sunday afternoon.
2024 has seen Dylan Lynch make his senior debut, notching up a score of 1-11 across all 5 championship games to date, while James Finn has been afforded more game time, building on his semi-final appearance in 2023. This year's campaign has also welcomed the return of Adrian Breen, Sean Long and Jerome Boylan. All 3 had to endure a spell on the sidelines due to injury. Tommy Grimes has been whisked back from his hiatus in the Middle East and Australia, adding more strength to our midfield. Keith Dempsey has also returned from his leisurely travels in America to bolster the squad and give Shano a bit of selection headache. Peter remains on the road to recovery and we look forward to having him back soon.
Peter is on the road to recovery.
Sunday’s match is set for Mick Neville Park as the Gaelic Grounds is unplayable. This was due to the damage done to the pitch after it staged a number of concerts during the summer. As of writing, we understand that the game will not be shown live on terrestrial television or streamed online. It seems we are one of the only Liam McCarthy counties not streaming any of our games this year. A pity.
Played in the Gaelic Grounds, this was a game that took a while to get going for our lads with Wayne landing our first score on 10 minutes. We soon found our stride though with Dow converting 2 long range frees and Ronan chipping in with the closer ones. Downsey came into the game registering 4 points from play over the 60 minutes, along with Conor Boylan and Daithí scoring 2 each. Mike held firm at full back to complement Williams workmanlike display at the center. We would run our 3-point winners, overturning the loss we suffered in the same fixture last year. A good start.
Kingers at full tilt.
Team: Shane Dowling(0-02, 0-02f), Cathall King, Mike Casey, Gearoid Synnott, Vince Harrington, Will O’Donoghue, Mike Foley, Tommy Grimes, Wayne Kearns(0-01), JJ Carey, Conor Boylan(0-02), Kevin Downes(0-04), Ronan Lynch(0-08, 0-06f), Daithí Dempsey(0-02), Will Henn(0-03).
Subs: Emmet McEvoy for Mike Foely, Dylan Lynch(0-01) for Will Henn, John Fitz for Wayne, Sean Long for Gearoid.
The Na Piarsaigh Wall.
Round 2: Na Piarsaigh 1-22 Ahane 1-17
A sunny Caherconlish was the venue for our second game of the championship with Ahane our opponents. Ahane were coming into round 2 on the back of a hard fought 1-point win over Mungret. They raced into a 4-point lead early on before we could register our first score. That came from the stick of Will Henn on 6 minutes. Ahane struck a goal moments later before Dow pulled off an outstanding save to prevent us going further behind. It wasn’t until the 20 minute mark before we really got a foothold, with Daithí slotting a badly needed goal. We took control after that point and restricted Ahane to mostly frees for the remainder of the game.
Wayne breaks out of a tackle.
Team: Shane Dowling(0-01, 0-01ft), Cathall King, Mike Casey, Gearoid Synnott, Vince Harrington, Mike Foley(0-04), Tommy Grimes(0-02), William O’Donoghue, Wayne Kearns, JJ Carey, Conor Boylan(0-02), Ronan Lynch(0-06, 0-06f), Dylan Lynch(0-02), Daithí Dempsey(1-00), Will Henn(0-04).
Subs used: John Fitzgerald(0-01) for Wayne, Keith Dempsey for Will Henn, Jerome Boylan for Vince, Sean Long for Tommy.
Tommy on the charge.
Round 3: Na Piarsaigh 0-17 Doon 1-15
We suffered our first defeat of the championship against Doon in the 3rd round played in Kilmallock. Doon were much the better team in the first half, with Dow pulling off an excellent save to not see us further behind at the break. The second half saw us give a much more polished account of ourselves. We looked to be in the driving seat after 60 minutes, having stormed our way back into the game. James Finn came off the bench late to put us into a one point lead. Our opponents won a free from the resultant puck-out, with Adam English converting. Draw game and time almost up. English won possession from the puck out and his shot went through the posts. We had to settle for a one-point defeat but certainly a lot of positives and learnings for Shane O’Neill and his management to take.
A heated moment from the Doon game.
Team: Shane Dowling(0-03, 0-03f), Gearoid Synnott, Mike Casey, Cathall King, Emmet McEvoy(0-01), William O'Donoghue, Mike Foley(0-01), Tommy Grimes(0-01), John Fitzgerald, JJ Carey(0-01), Conor Boylan, Daithí Dempsey(0-01), Kevin Downes(0-02), Ronan Lynch(0-02, 0-02f), Will Henn(0-01, 0-01f).
Subs: Dylan Lynch(0-01) for Ronan, Jerome(0-01) for Gearoid, Wayne(0-01) for John Fitz, Vince for Kingers, James Finn(0-01) for Tommy.
Gearoid Synnott under pressure from Darragh O'Donovan.
Round 4: Na Piarsaigh 1-26 Kilmallock 1-17
Our senior hurlers got back to winning ways in round 4, recording a 9-point win over senior rivals Kilmallock. The first half was end to end stuff with both teams going in level at half time, 1-11 apiece. Daithí Dempsey buried our only goal of the game on the 25 minute mark after a lovely floated pass from Will Henn. The second half started as the first ended with both sides trading scores. Ronan Lynch was putting on a show from placed balls while also contributing handsomely from open play. He would finish the day with 13 points, 4 of them from play along with a beauty of sideline cut just under the stand. Conor Boylan’s hurley was also warm, finishing the day with 5 points. Emmett McEvoy and William were both outstanding at the back all throughout the hour.
William on the charge against Kilmallock.
Team: Shane Dowling, Vince Harrington, Mike Casey, Cathall King, Emmett McEvoy, William O’Donoghue, Mike Foley(0-01), Tommy Grimes(0-02), Ronan Lynch (0-13, 0-08f 0-01sl), JJ Carey, Will Henn(0-01), Conor Boylan(0-05), Kevin Downes, Daithí Dempsey(1-02), Dylan Lynch.
Subs: Adrian Breen(0-02) for Dylan(45), Gearoid Synnott for Cathall(51), Wayne Kearns for Tommy(53), Sean Long for JJ (57), James Finn for Kevin(61).
Round 5: Na Piarsaigh 2-21 Mungret 1-15
We ran out 10-point winners in the last group game of this year's senior championship to a young Mungret side. Downsey chipped in with a "Downsey Special" of a goal in the first half to settle things. Dylan Lynch was also in form, him coming away with 1-07, all from play.
Subs: Sean Long for Jerome, Wayne Kearns for Keith, John Fitzgerald for JJ, JJ for Conor Boylan.
Downsey looks to the posts in round 5.
Scorers to date:
Ronan Lynch 0-34 (0-23f, 0-01sl)
Dylan Lynch 1-11
Daithí Dempsey 2-06
Conor Boylan 0-11
Kevin Downes 1-08
Will Henn 0-09 (0-01f)
Mike Foley 0-08
Shane Dowling 0-06 (0-06f)
Tommy Grimes 0-05
Keith Dempsey 0-02
Adrian Breen 0-02
Wayne Kearns 0-02
JJ Carey 0-02
John Fitzgerald 0-01
Jerome Boylan 0-01
Emmet McEvoy 0-01
Ronan tops our scoring chart to date.
2024 Senior Squad: Adrian Breen, Alan Dempsey, Cathall King, Conor Boylan, Daithi Dempsey, Dylan Lynch, Emmet McEvoy, Evan Condon, Gearoid Synott, James Daly, James Finn, Jerome Boylan, Jim Beary, JJ Carey, John Fitzgerald, John O’Keeffe, Josh Sheehan, Keith Dempsey, Kevin Daly, Kevin Downes, Kieran Daly, Marcus Hogan, Mark O’Connor, Mike Casey, Mike Foley, Pa O’Neill, Pat Gleeson, Pauric Heaney, Peter Casey, Ronan Lynch, Sean Long, Shane Dowling, Tommy Grimes, Vince Harrington, Wayne Kearns, Will Henn, William O’Donoghue.
2024 Senior Management: Shane O’Neill, John Fitzgerald, Colm Callanan, Pat McCarthy, Lukasz Kirszenstein & Peter Sheehan.
Backroom Team: Dr Dave Boylan (Doctor), Brian Hurley (Physio), Tom Synott (First Aid)
Logistics: Dennis Duggan, Barry O’Regan, Ben O’Regan & Eoin Grimes.
Stats: Paul McNamara, Paul Downes, David Burke, Ciarán Broderick & Kieran Kennedy.
Shano and Peter break for half time in the Doon match.
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