Fr Casey's edge past Mungret-St Paul's to claim Limerick Premier minor football title

“WE WERE very disappointed with losing last year's final, so we dug deep deep to make sure we'd get over the line this time," was manager Ger O'Connor's view of Fr Casey's capturing the Limerick premier minor football title after a hard-fought 0-16 to 1-11 final victory over Mungret-St Paul's in Wednesday night's final in Rathkeale's Mick Neville Park.

Although Fr Casey's shaded the first half to take a three-point lead and looked to have put the outcome to bed when they stretched that to six going by the end of the hour, a last-ditch rally, which included the game's only goal, left Abbeyfeale supporters biting their nails as they waited for Mike Browne's final whistle to end six nervous minutes of added time.

Key to the Fealesiders' victory was a razor-sharp attack built around the conductor's baton of Adam Murphy as well as his finishing and the free-taking of Evan O'Connor which gave them the ability to strike quickly and with deadly effect whenever they forced the turnover.

Mungret-St Paul's game was built around using their strength around the middle to dominate possession, but it wasn't until the final quarter that they added enough urgency to their build-up play to stretch the opposing defence.

Quick points from O'Connor's free and Ronan O'Connell got Fr Casey's off the mark before Mark Barrett opened Mungret-St Paul'ss scoring at the end of a patient attack.

The gap remained at one point minimum as Steven Barry replied to O'Connor's pointed free and Darragh Hogan's score also from a pointed free responded to Aaron Kelly.

Fr Casey's missed a well-worked opportunity to state their intent when Murphy, after ghosting in behind the defence to collect a long pass, saw his shot on goal smothered by Eoin Murphy bursting out from his goal line.

However, the missed chance was enough to inspire Adam Murphy and Ryan Sweeney to stretch the gap with points and, after Hogan replied off a pointed free, two Murphy points and another Hogan free in response left Fr Casey's leading 0-8 to 0-5 at half-time.

Mungret-St Paul's upped the intensity on the restart and looked to have finally found the momentum when Rory Mullins' pointed free and a point from Barrett brought them back to within a point of their opponents.

However, with the alarm bells ringing, O'Connell and Murphy struck back with points for the West Limerick side.

Although skipper Conor Mangen replied for the city side, Fr Casey's strike force were moving into top gear and O'Connell's point, followed by Kelly's converted free and a further score from O'Connor had them five points to the good with eight regulation minutes to go.

Mullins' free followed by Jack Dervan sending the resulting kickout back between the posts provided a glimmer of hope for Mungret-St Paul's but Fr Casey's still had the bit between the teeth as a pair of O'Connor  pointed frees either side of centre-back Matthew O'Conor's inspirational solo score left them standing on the doorstep of victory.

Throwing everyone forward in search of the goal, Mungret-St Paul's shit back when Daniel O'Connell pounced on a clearance and burst through a host of players before finishing into the far corner of the net.

However, although Mullins followed up with a pointed free for the city side, they just couldn't find another crack in Fr Casey's resolute defence before they finally ran out of time.

SCORERS: FR CASEYS: Evan O'Connor (4 frees) 0-5, Adam Murphy 0-4, Ronan O'Connell, Aaron Kelly (1 free) 0-2 each, Ryan Sweeney, Kealan Lyons, Matthew O'Connor 0-1 each; MUNGRET-ST PAUL'S: Daniel O'Connell 1-0, Darragh Hogan (3 frees), Rory Mullins (3 frees) 0-3 each, Mark Barrett 0-2, Stephen Barry, Conor Mangan, Jack Dervan 0-1 each.

FR CASEYS: Adam Collins; Ian Tierney, Danny McCarthy, Calum O'Connor; Jack Nolan, Matthew O'Connor, Eoghan Crowley; Cathal Woulfe, Liam O'Connor; Aaron Kelly, Adam Murphy, Ronan O'Connell; Evan O'Connor, Leon Curtin, Ryan Sweeney. SUBS: Kealan Lyons for Ryan Sweeney (37 minutes), Kieran Roche for Eoghan Crowley (58 minutes), Aaron Murphy for Calum O'Connor (64 minutes).

MUNGRET-ST PAUL'S: Eoin Murphy; Mark Galvin, Amhlaoibh Bohane, Jack O'Sullivan; Conor Ó Lonaigh, George Lloyd, Gavin Dore; Conor Mangen, Daniel O,Connell; Rory Mullins, Mark Barrett, Steven Barry; Liam Ahern, Darragh Hogan, Adam Dore. SUBS: Alan O'Leary for Jack O'Sullivan (half-time), Jack Dervan for Adam Dore (40 minutes), Aaron Morrow for Mark Galvin (53 minutes), Thomas O'Donnell for Liam Ahern (53 minutes),

REFEREE: Mike Browne (Dromcollogher-Broadford).