NA PIARSAIGH produced an impressive performance to defeat Kilmallock 2-23 to 1-14 in round four of the Whitebox Limerick senior hurling championship on Saturday evening in Mick Neville Park. 

This victory now means that Na Piarsaigh have booked their place in the Limerick SHC semi-finals. After a cagey opening affair, Na Piarsaigh took control of this encounter during the second half outscoring the opponents 1-14 to 1-2. Na Piarsaigh’s sharp finishing, clever use of possession, and effective use of the breeze in the second half proved decisive.

On his first start in this year’s SHC, Mike Casey anchored the Na Piarsaigh defence, William O’Donoghue dominated the middle third, while Peter Casey, Dáithí Dempsey, Kevin Downes and Dylan Lynch combined brilliantly in attack to contribute 2-13 between them. 

Kilmallock have yet to secure their place in the SHC knockout stages. The south Limerick club, Ballybrown and Ahane, will battle it out for the two remaining spots. Their round five showdown with Ballybrown is now effectively a winner-takes-all clash, as defeat would mean elimination if Ahane overcome Doon. 

James Hickey was dealt a number of setbacks in this games with Graeme Mulcahy, Ciaran O’Connor and Oisin O’Reilly all being forced off through injury. 

Wind and rain made conditions tough at Mick Neville Park on Saturday evening. Both sides were evenly matched in a tight first half, with the scores level on eight occasions. Kilmallock had the benefit of the strong breeze but they struggled to make it count, hitting 11 wides.

After ten minutes, the sides were deadlocked at 0-3 each. Kilmallock registered points through Robbie Hanley and two frees from Shane O’Brien, while Ronan Lynch, Kevin Downes and Keith Dempsey found the target for Na Piarsaigh in the early stages.

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Frees from O’Brien and Conor Hanley Clarke pushed the league champions 0-5 to 0-3 in front. Then a long delivery was sent into the Na Piarsaigh full forward line but Kilmallock defender Aaron Costello misjudged the sliotar. Adrian Breen stayed alert and he was fouled inside the small square. Referee Kieran Guina signalled a penalty and Na Piarsaigh goalkeeper Shane Dowling made no mistake from the penalty spot. Adrian Breen then extended Na Piarsaigh’s lead after that. 

Kilmallock hit back on 21 minutes with points from Micheál Houlihan and Conor Hanley Clarke to make it 1-4 to 0-7. The closing stages of the half remained evenly balanced, with both sides exchanging scores before heading into the break level 1-9 to 0-12.

Last year’s county finalists started the second half brightly after early points from Dylan Lynch, William O’Donoghue and Ronan Lynch. On 34 minutes, Na Piarsaigh squeezed the Kilmallock puckout and the sliotar fell to Dylan Lynch who cooly slotted the sliotar into the back of the net.

Kilmallock’s Oisin O’Reilly and Pierce Connery reduced the gap to four points. Shane O’Neill decided to introduce Peter Casey on 40 minutes and the Limerick senior hurler made an immediate impact getting on the scoreboard three minutes later. On 45 minutes,Oisín O’Reilly broke through the Na Piarsaigh defence before passing to David Woulfe, who fired the sliotar past Shane Dowling to leave James Hickey’s side trailing 2-13 to 1-14.

In the last quarter, Na Piarsaigh took control scoring the next ten points with Peter Casey, Ronan Lynch, Kevin Downes, Mike Foley, Daithi Dempsey and Will Henn all sealing a comfortable twelve point victory for the Caherdavin side over Kilmallock. 

SCORERS: 

NA PIARSAIGH: Shane Dowling (1-0, 1-0 penalty), Kevin Downes (0-7, 0-6 frees, 0-1 65), Dylan Lynch 1-2, Ronan Lynch (0-4, 0-4 frees), Daithi Dempsey and Peter Casey 0-2 each, Will Henn, William O’Donoghue, Emmet McEvoy, Adrian Breen, Mike Foley and Keith Dempsey 0-1 each

KILMALLOCK: Shane O’Brien (0-4, 0-3 frees), Conor Hanley Clarke (0-2, 0-2 frees), David Woulfe 1-0, Killian Hayes 0-2 and Pierce Connery 0-2 each, Oisin O’Reilly, Paudie O’Brien, Micheal Houlihan and Robbie Hanley 0-1 each

NA PIARSAIGH: Shane Dowling; Jerome Boylan, Mike Casey, Ronan Lynch; Vince Harrington, Emmett McEvoy, Tommy Grimes; James Finn, William O’Donoghue; JJ Carey, Daithi Dempsey, Keith Dempsey; Kevin Downes, Dylan Lynch, Adrian Breen.

SUBS: Will Henn for Keith Dempsey (25 minutes), Mike Foley for Grimes (40 minutes), Peter Casey for Finn (40 minutes), Mark Hogan for Dylan Lynch (52 minutes)

KILMALLOCK: Conor Hanley-Clarke; Dylan O’Brien, Robbie Egan, Aaron Costello; Micheal Houlihan, Kevin O’Donnell, Ciaran O’Connor; Killian Hayes, Robbie Hanley; Conor Staunton, Graeme Mulcahy, Oisin O’Reilly; Paudie O’Brien, Shane O’Brien,Oisin Enright. 

SUBS: Pierce Connery for Mulcahy (23 minutes, injury), Steven Quirke for O’Connor (26 minutes, injury), David Woulfe for Staunton (40 minutes), Gavin O’Mahony for Paudie O’Brien (49 minutes), Thomas Savage for Enright (52 minutes), Shane Dowling for O’Reilly (58 minutes). 

REFEREE: Kieran Guina (Feonagh-Castlemahon)