Four-goal blitz propels Oola past Na Piarsaigh in Limerick senior football championship

“IF YOU lose your first outing, you're already under pressure and thinking more of avoiding relegation. So, even though we made some mistakes, there's great satisfaction in getting a win like this and it leaves us looking forward to see how far we can go,” was the reaction of coach Diarmuid Sheehy as Oola opened the Limerick senior football championship with an emphatic 4-15 to 1-9 Group 1 victory over Na Piarsaigh in Caherconlish on Thursday evening.

Having already put 1-6 on the scoreboard before their opponents found their first response, Oola never looked in any serious danger despite possession being shared almost equally over the hour.

When it came to using it, however, it was a different story as the speed with which Oola moved it through the lines and their awareness of space in front of the posts allowed them to close off every attempt at a comeback whenever their opponents tried to eat into their lead.

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Possibly the most pleasing aspect of the East Limerick club's performance was the impact current and recent underage stars made on the game, particularly up front where the buzzing presence of Tom Ryan, Jack Downey and Shane O'Grady stretched the attentions of their markers and opened the pathways for scores.

Unable to call on Dylan Cronin and Reuben McCarthy, Na Piarsaigh lacked the firepower to respond but they've been in this situation before, like last season when they recovered from an almighty thrashing from Mungret in their opener to make it to the championship play-offs.

Although Na Piarsaigh started this Group 1 fixture with the wind at their backs, Oola dominated the early possession to take the lead with Jack Downey's fisted point and add a Josh Ryan two-pointer free.

The City side started to get some parity in the middle coming up to the quarter mark but lacked the shape in their attack to get inside scoring range and, even when they did get a few balls through, they were rushed off possession by the opposing full-back line.

After another Ryan free, brought into the 20-metre line for not releasing the kicker, resumed the East Limerick side's finishing and was followed by another Downey score, before they suckered their opponents into conceding yet another foul for Ryan to convert.

In the run-up to the break, Paddy Downey collected off Tom Ryan to blast to the net. With nine points between the sides, the result looked done and dusted but the goal provoked the Caherdavin club to get off the mark through skipper Evan Egan's two-pointer free from out on the sideline.

Although that was responded to by scores from Jack Downey and Tom Ryan, substitute Tommy Glynn raced onto Dean McLoughlin's scorcher crashing off the crossbar to blast into the far corner to narrow Oola's lead to 1-8 to 1-2.

However, that revival could have been immediately undone had Downey, collecting off the resulting kickout, not been denied by Eoghan Sherlock's spectacular save with the final action of the first half.

That second Oola goal, however, was delayed just by the time spent in the dressing-room as, within a minute of the restart, Tom Ryan was foot-tackled bursting into the square.

Limerick star Josh Ryan slammed home the penalty before action switched to the other end where Kevin Daly cannoned his screamer off the crossbar.

He did manage to send over the resulting '45', but the score was overtaken by scores from Tom Ryan and a Josh Ryan two-pointer free before Eoghan Vukovic and Daly shaved the gap back to nine points.

Na Piarsaigh continued to pile forward as Oola took a breather, but that only resulted in breakaways ending with Downey collecting off Shane O'Grady to drill the third goal low into the near corner.

The green flag was followed up with a point before Daly replied from a free and from play and Glynn tacking on a point.

County hurler Eddie Stokes point in reply was then matched by Daly's 45 after Cian McGrath had flung himself across Glynn's shot on goal. That proved to the Caherdavin team's last shot in anger, however, as Tom Ryan's point, Mikey O'Brien with goal number four after Stokes sliced through the defence, and Josh Ryan's two-pointer free, drove home Oola's superiority on the night.

SCORERS: OOLA: Josh Ryan 1-7 (1-0 penalty, 0-4 2xfrees, 0-3 frees), Jack Downey 1-4, Paddy Downey, Mikey O'Brien 1-0 each, Tom Ryan 0-3, Eddie Stokes 0-1; NA PIARSAIGH: Kieran Daly 0-5 ( 2 '45's, 1 free), Tommy Glynn 1-1, Evan Egan 0-2 (2xfree), Eoghan Vukovic 0-1.

OOLA: Cian McGrath; Fionn Roche, Niall McCormack, Fiachra O'Grady; Colin O'Grady, Eoin Fitzgibbon, Paddy Downey; John O'Callaghan, Aidan Macken; Eamon Landers, Josh Ryan, Tom Ryan; Jack Downey, Mikey O'Brien, Shane O'Grady. SUBS: Eddie Stokes for Eamon Landers (48 mins), Dylan McGrath for Shane O'Grady (58 mins).

NA PIARSAIGH: Eoghan Sherlock; Adam Jordan, Jack McCarthy, Cathal McMullan; Matthew Walsh, Ralph Leonard, Ronan Houlihan; Donal O'Connell, James Daly; Stanley Dike, Gordon Brown, Eoghan Vukovic; Evan Egan, Dean McLoughlin, Kieran Daly. SUBS: Tommy Glynn for Ralp Leonad (injured, 20 mins), Peter Hodnett for Stanley Dike (42 mins).

REFEREE: Johnny Murphy (Ballylanders).