Mungret St Paul's secure impressive Limerick U20 premier football final win over Fr Casey's

“REALLY satisfactory performance, we held the ball well and were always looking to go forward,” was how joint-manager Brendan Giltenane explained Mungret St Paul's successful defence of their county Premier U-20 football title after scoring a decisive 2-11 to 0-6 final victory over Father Caseys in Rathkeale's Seán Finn Park on Sunday.

A goal midway through the first half gave the winners a cushion that was always going to be difficult to overcome and, with a miserly defence conceding next to nothing within the score zone, the city side was in control for the rest of the hour.

Mungret St Paul's task might have been made more difficult had Abbeyfeale taken to the field with their shooting boots on but, with a wides tally of 15 compared to just the one chalked up by their opponents, they could never make any inroads into Raheen team's lead.

Despite extended periods when the possession won at half-back and midfield gave them a platform to attack, Fr Casey's movement was too often cautious and laboured, leaving them shooting more in hope than with conviction as the room to get in the shot was closed down.

Mungret St Paul's, on the other hand, were always willing to give it a lash, piling forward at speed to collect off the clearance and turnover. Their confidence grew as their early attacks bore fruit and, once their backs got to grips with the response, the outcome was all but decided by half-time.

Dominating the kickout and the clearances, Fr Caseys had all the early possession, but struggled to open up the space ahead of them and then, when Oisín Woulfe finally got the West Limerick side off the mark, Mungret struck back immediately with Muiris Ahern's equalising point.

That sparked their midfielders to get into the game and, with their front men piling forward in search of the pass, they drew the foul for Luke Walsh to punish with a pointed free. This was followed by Diarmuid Hynes' point on the run before a second Walsh free to put three between the sides.

Adam Murphy's point for Fr Casey's off the end of a five-pass move broke the sequence, but the Raheen club were still buzzing as Rory Mullins and Walsh extended their advantage and their greater positivity when in possession found its reward when Fintan O'Kelly was fouled running onto the pass and smashed home the resulting penalty to lead by seven points.

However, the intensity dropped going into the second quarter, giving the Fealesiders the chance to reply. Despite Culann Quigley pointing twice after collecting off quick frees, the Fr Casey's build-up became laboured again as their opponents tightened at the back and, as their wide count continued to mount, the scoreline remained at 1-6 to 0-4 all the way up to the break.

Straight from the restart, Hynes stretched the City club's lead with a point only to be cancelled out by Michael Kilbridge pointing after coming up from deep.

After O'Kelly and Quigley then traded further points. Once their lead had remained intact by the three-quarter mark, Mungret St Paul's stepped on the gas again for midfield pairing Tom Lloyd and Jack Somers to stretch their advantage by another two points by which time play was breaking up the substitutes began to pile on.

Ahern's black card left them a man short going into the closing straight but, with Hynes sending over a free, the Abbeyfeale cause had already been lost. Then, with final flourish two minutes into added time, Liam Moran burrowed his way through challenges and, when the ball broke after his shot was blocked, Walsh was on hand to stab the ball to the net.

SCORERS: MUNGRET ST PAUL'S: Luke Walsh 1-3 (0-2 frees), Fintan O'Kelly 1-1 (1-0 penalty), Diarmuid Hynes 0-3 (1 free), Muiris Ahern, Rory Mullins, Tom Lloyd, Jack Somers 0-1 each; FATHER CASEYS: Culann Quigley 0-3, Oisín Woulfe, Adam Murphy, Michael Kilbridge 0-1 each.

MUNGRET SAINT PAUL'S: Eoin O'Hagan; Brian Hassett, Cian Kinnevane. Conor Mangan; Conor Ó Loinsigh, Jason Hassett, David Guilfoyle; Tom Lloyd, Jack Somers; Fintan O'Kelly, Diarmuid Hynes, Muiris Ahern; Liam Moran, Rory Mullins, Luke Walsh. SUBS: Kevin O'Connell for Jason Hassett (injured, 33 minutes), Evan McInerney for Conor Mangan (61 minutes), Adam Coffey for Fintan O'Kelly (61 minutes).

FATHER CASEYS: Conor Doody; Danny McCarthy, Cathal Woulfe, Ian Tierney; Matthew O'Connor, Michael Kilbridge, Calum Boyle; Culann Quigley, Marc Nolan; Adam Murphy, Oisín Woulfe. James Dore; Evan O'Connor, Ronan O'Connell, Dylan O'Connor. SUBS: Ronan Quirke for Marc Nolan (halt-time), Calum O'Connor for Adam Murphy (45 minutes), Ryan Sweeney for Jamie Dore (55 minutes), Keelan Lyons for Evan O'Connor (55 minutes), Jack Nolan for Calum Boyle (58 minutes).

REFEREE: Timmy McGrath (Oola).