MONALEEN continued their unbeaten run in round two of the Irish Wire Products Limerick Senior Football Championship with a 1-16 to 2-7 victory over Na Piarsaigh on Thursday evening in Rhebogue.
Midfielder Steven Kiely and the full forward line of Alan Nicholas, Jack Canny and Shane Dolan were in impressive form scoring 1-10 for the winners. Na Piarsaigh defender Ralph Leonard missed this evening's clash through injury.
The opening quarter was a close contest, with both sides trading scores, but over the remaining 45 minutes Monaleen seized control and never looked in danger of losing.
Na Piarsaigh suffered a heavy defeat to Oola in round one of the Limerick Senior Football Championship. Monaleen got their SFC campaign off to a winning start against Rathkeale.
After 12 minutes, the teams were tied at 0-3 apiece. Alan Nicholas, Darragh Murray, and Steven Kiely found the mark for the Castletroy outfit, while Kieran Daly, Evan Egan, and Donal O’Connell split the posts for Na Piarsaigh.
Jack Canny and Shane Dolan responded to push Monaleen 0-5 to 0-3 but James Daly replied to reduce the gap to a one point game.
Monaleen were guilty of a few unforced errors in the early stages, but once they settled, they asserted their dominance, rattling off six unanswered points through Shane Dolan, Tadhg O’Siochru, Steven Kiely, Darragh Murray, Alan Nicholas, and Jack Canny to take a 0-11 to 0-4 lead into the break.
After the interval, Eddie Cosgrave’s side made the perfect start to the second half when midfielder Steven Kiely blasted the ball into the roof of the net. Just two minutes later, however, the victors were dealt a setback when Limerick senior footballer Darragh Murray was forced off with an injury.
Alan Nicholas and Tadhg O’Siochru continued to shine in attack for Monaleen, stretching their team’s advantage to 1-13 to 0-4.
In the closing stages, substitute Paul Canny chipped in with a point to secure Monaleen’s six-point win. Eddie Cosgrove will feel that his side made this contest more difficult than it needed to be, while Na Piarsaigh can take some positives from the character they showed in the second half.
Round three of the SFC takes place on the week of September 4, Monaleen face Fr Casey's and Na Piarsaigh take on Rathkeale in the next round.
SCORERS:
NA PIARSAIGH: Kieran Daly 1-1, Daniel Collins 1-0, Evan Egan (0-3, 0-2 frees),James Daly 0-2, Donal O'Connell 0-1
MONALEEN: Steven Kiely 1-3, Alan Nicholas 0-3, Jack Canny and Shane Dolan 0-2 each, Darragh Murray (0-2, 0-2 frees), Tadgh O'Siochru (0-2, 0-1 free) Darragh Kennedy and Paul Canny 0-1 each
MONALEEN: Dermot Dineen; Jack Doyle, Ger Clancy, Conor Carew; Conal O'Duinn, Darragh Kennedy, Padraig Quinn; Niall Loughran, Steven Kiely; Paul Cross, Alan Nicholas, Darragh Murray (Captain); Shane Dolan, Jack Canny, Tadhg O'Siochru.
SUBS: Mark Torpey for Murray (injury, 32 minutes), Aaron Kennedy for Cross (44 minutes), Paul Canny for Kiely (52 minutes), Robbie Widger for Dolan (56 minutes), Andrew Kearney for Nicholas (59 minutes).
NA PIARSAIGH: Eoghan Sherlock; Adam Jordan, Jack McCarthy, Cathal McMullan; Matthew Walsh, Christy O'Hagan, Ronan Houlihan; Donal O'Connell, James Daly; Ian Leonard, Gordon Brown, Eoghan Vukovic; Evan Egan (Captain), Dean McLoughlin, Kieran Daly.
SUBS: Jim Beary for Adam Jordan (40 minutes), Cian Counihan for Walsh (40 minutes), Evan Gilvarry for Vukovic (40 minutes), Daniel Collins for James Daly (47 minute, injury), Peter Hodnett for O'Connell (55 minutes, injury).
REFEREE: Jonathan Hayes (St Senan's).
