Fr Caseys and Oola play out thrilling draw in Limerick Senior Football Championship

THERE was stalemate in group one of the Irish Wire Products Limerick Senior Football Championship on Saturday evening as wasted late chances at both ends meant Oola and 2024 runners-up, Fr Caseys couldn’t be separated.

In Kilmallock it finished Oola 2-10, Fr Caseys 1-13.

Played in perfect, dry, windless conditions, these sides served up an enjoyable sixty minutes of football which saw Oola recover from a slow start, before leading for the majority of the second period before eventually being pegged back.

READ MORE: Iain Corbett hat-trick of goals powers Newcastle West past Kildimo-Pallaskenry in Limerick SFC

It leaves the easterners well placed, with three points from a possible four, while the Abbeyfeale outfit will be aware that round three is now fraught with danger, having secured just one point to date.

Both sides had long-range efforts to win the contest, Josh Ryan skewing a sideline wide at one end while Eliah Riordan missed an angled free from outside the arc, which would have won the contest.

Those two were prominent and both netted penalties inside ten minutes. After Rory O’Brien opened the scoring, Adrian Enright was held by Cian McGrath, the Oola keeper. He paid the price when referee John O’Halloran awarded a penalty, which Riordan dispatched beautifully.

David Ward helped open up a five point gap with a point before Oola eventually found some joy. Shane O’Grady was felled when attempting to blast to the net, allowing Ryan the chance to bury his second penalty of the campaign.

However, both Enright and Dylan Quirke replied to continue the west side’s dominance.  Two frees from Ryan, both just inside the 40m line, cut the gap once more and he thought he had tied the clash with a 60m effort.

His free of the ground rebounded off the post to Mikey O’Brien who turned and clipped over. The same player was alert to another break, this time a Shane O’Grady diving-handpass, before blasting to the net. The dying embers of the opening half was end to end with Enright levelling immediately at the other end.

Jack Downey had the final say of the half, with a wonderful two-pointer on the run, leaving it Oola 2-5 Fr Casey’s 1-6 at half-time.

The second half was only seconds old when another Ryan, Tom, knocked over another Oola point and suddenly they looked like the assured outfit from last month's hammering of Na Piarsaigh.

But, David Ward had other ideas, the clever full-forward picked off two quick-fire points, the first a fisted effort to leave the minimum between the teams. From here, Fr Casey’s were somewhat more dominant, with an over reliance on frees for scores counting against them.

Josh Ryan nailed a wonderful two-point free on 44 minutes, before scoring from play soon after.

A trio of scores, including a third for Enright meant it was level during the closing stages. Ryan and then Ronan Quike (free) closed the contest with points to leave the sides level for the fourth and final time.

SCORERS: OOLA: Josh Ryan 1-6 (1-0 pen; 1 tpf; 2free); Mikey O’Brien 1-1; Jack Downey 0-2 (tp); Tom Ryan 0-1. FR CASEYS: Ronan Quirke 0-5 (5 frees); Eliah Riordan 1-0 (penalty); David Ward and Adrian Enright 0-3 each; Rory O’Brien and Dylan Quirke 0-1 each.

OOLA: Cian McGrath; Fionn Roche, Niall McCormack, Fiachra O’Grady; Colin O’Grady, Eoin Fitzgibbon, Seán Hanley; John O’Callaghan, Aiden Macken; Eamon Landers, Josh Ryan, Tom Ryan; Jack Downey, Mikey O’Brien, Shane O’Grady. SUBS: Eddie Stokes for Jack Landers (39 mins); Michael Ryan for Mikey O’Brien (50 mins); Dylan McGrath for Shane O’Grady (55 mins).

FR CASEYS: Shane O’Connell; John Riordan, Fiachra Cotter, Culann Quigley; Michael Kilbridge, Seán Kilbridge, Mark McCarthy; Eliah Riordan, Diarmuid Buckley; Rory O’Brien, Daniel Daly, Adrian Enright; Dylan Quirke, David Ward, Ronan Quirke. SUBS: Eoin Joy for Daniel Daly (39 mins); Sam Quigley for David Ward (57 mins); Danny McCarthy for Eliah Riordan (57 mins); Martin Scannell for Dylan Quirke (60+1 mins).

REFEREE: John O’Halloran (Bruree).