NA PIARSAIGH BREEZE INTO MUNSTER FINAL
NA PIARSAIGH manager Shane O’Neill has started the mind games ahead of the Munster final by claiming Ballygunner are much better than the side they beat two years ago on their way to becoming the first Limerick team to win the All-Ireland club hurling title. Na Piarsaigh were in impressive form yesterday and never looked like losing at the Gaelic Grounds yesterday, but O’Neill has warned that Ballygunner will have more momentum. ‘I know they have eight or nine weeks on the trot and now they have a break and they are playing again. But they have had some serious championship matches in the lead up to it. It will be a real battle,’ he said. That’s more than can be said about yesterday’s encounter as Blackrock, the most prolific winners of the Cork and Munster titles, were blown away as Na Piarsaigh raced into a 2-8 to 0-4 lead after 17 minutes against the wind. They hardly missed the injured Shane Dowling with his Limerick colleague Ronan Lynch stepping forward and the All-Ireland Under-21 hero hit 0-15, 10 of them frees. ‘We needed the start that they had,’ said Blackrock boss Fergal Ryan. ‘But we chased the game from the start. The harder we chased the further it went away from us.’ The accuracy of Lynch from frees kept extending the gap and they led by 0-8 to 0-3 after 16 minutes when Peter Casey blasted to the net. David Breen then added a second goal for Na Piarsaigh with a low shot to the net to lead by 2-8 to 0-4. Two pointed frees from Michael O’Halloran gave Blackrock hope but Na Piarsaigh finished the half strongly with another pointed free from Lynch before Casey took his haul to 1-3 with two points in first-half stoppage time. It was all one-way traffic after the restart. Lynch tacked on four more points as they extended their cushion, as Blackrock only managed to register four points in the second-half. NA PIARSAIGH: P Kennedy; J Boylan, M Casey, N Buckley (J O’Brien 55); A Dempsey, C King, T Grimes (M Foley 48); R Lynch, W O’Donoghue; C Boylan (K Kennedy 56), D Breen, D Dempsey (G Brown 31); A Breen, K Downes, P Casey (K Ryan 33-38, 44). Scorers: R Lynch 0-15 (10f, 2 ’65, 0-1 sideline); P Casey 1-3; A Breen 0-3; D Breen 1-0; W O’Donoghue, N Buckley, C Boylan, K Downes, K Ryan 0-1. BLACKROCK: G Connolly; J Cashman, D Stokes, G Norberg (B Ahern 56); A Murphy, N Cashman, D Meaney; S Murphy, D O’Farrell; J O’Sullivan (L O’Sullivan 45), A O’Callaghan (E O’Farrell 56), G O’Regan; M O’Halloran, T Deasy (C O’Leary 49), D Cashman (A Hogan 31). Scorers: M O’Halloran 0-4 (4f); G O’Regan, D Cashman, A O’Callaghan, J O’Sullivan, D O’Farrell, L O’Sullivan 0-1. Referee: J Ryan (Tipperary).