Mungret St Paul's celebrate Limerick premier football success after final win over Oola

“THOSE three pointed frees just before half-time put us in a good position for the restart and it was looking good once Jack Dervan's goal gave us the lead, but that late goal they got led to a nervous ending,” was manager Vinnie Gleeson's take on Mungret St Paul's 1-10 to 1-8 victory over Oola in the Limerick premier minor football final in Knocklong on Wednesday night. 

In securing victory, Mungret St Paul's recovered from the disappointment of falling at the final hurdle in 2024 to reaclaim the prestigious title.

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This wasn't an outcome that looked on the cards early on as Oola's awareness of space gave them a stranglehold of primary possession but, after building up a lead of substance, the East Limerick side lost their advantage coming up to half-time. 

Once Mungret St Paul's drew level on the resumption, they were able to use their physical advantage in most positions to open up the opportunities and, after they took the lead with a spectacular goal, the city side was able to dictate the rest of the play before an added-time goal gave Oola a fleeting moment of hope before the final whistle overtook them.

Both sides started cautiously, Mungret St Paul's perhaps more so, as they waited for the break off the turnover, and it took all of six minutes before skipper Micheál Ryan opened the scoring for Oola at the end of an extended passing movement.

After seeing Stephen Barry's shot on the goals deflected for a '45', the East Limerick club continued to dominate primary possession and added to their advantage through a pair of points under pressure by livewire corner-forward Josh McLoughlin before captain Conor Ó Longaigh came up from defence to get Mungret St Paul's off the mark.

However, the tide of advantage was still flowing against them and points from Seán Hanley and Paddy Ryan's free put four between the sides coming up to the break.

However, with Mungret St Paul's moving up a gear, Oola conceded three frees for Killian Begley to narrow the margin to a single point, 0-5 to 0-4, at half-time.

Although the game restarted with another six scoreless minutes, the intensity had moved a notch.

Ó Longaigh found a few yards of space off a pass and return only to see his rasper from close range skim over rather than under the crossbar for another Mungret St Paul's point.

Oola's efforts to regain their lead faltered on shooting a few wides. They were punished when Rory Mullins found Jack Dervan running alongside him at full belt to take the lay-off and blast into the corner of Mark Ryan's net.

Ryan replied with a pointed free for Oola, but Mungret St Paul's were now on the crest of the wave as Thomas Ó Dónaill's free moved their lead out to four points.

Even though Diarmuid Crowe hit back with the only two-pointer of the night, the gap continued to mount going into the final quarter as points from Conor Mangan, a Rory Mullins fisted effort and Ó Longaigh all found the target for Mungret St Paul's.

Mungret St Paul's crowded out Oola's attempts to reply and, even though it took a goal line save to prevent Paddy Ryan finding the net, the city side held their lead at five going into added time.

But just as the East Limerick side were looking as if their cause was lost as every effort was divereted to a wide or a '45', an all out assualt led to a breaking ball dropping right into Packie Richardson's path and the wing-back's first time shot drilled just inside Mungret St Paul''s far post.

Another two minutes of all-out attack followed, but the city side's defensive blanket was not to be breached before referee Mike Browne called time.

SCORERS: MUNGRET ST PAUL'S: Killian Begley 0-4 (3 frees), Jack Dervan 1-0, Conor Ó Longaigh 0-3, Thomas Ó Dónaill (free), Conor Mangan, Rory Mullins 0-1 each; OOLA: Packie Richardson 1-0, Josh McLoughlin, Paddy Ryan (2 frees), Diarmuid Crowe (1 2x) 0-2 each, Micheál Ryan, Seán Hanley 0-1 each.

MUNGRET-ST PAUL'S: Eoin Murphy; Amhlaoibh Bohane, George Lloyd, Jack O'Sullivan; Charlie Rushe, Conor Ó Longaigh, Cillian Johnson; Rory Gleeson, Alan Cleary; Killian Begley, Jack Dervan, Liam Ahern; Stephen Barry, Rory Mullins, Thomas Ó Dónaill. SUBS: Conor Mangan for George Lloyd (injured, 19 mins), Mark Barrett for Liam Ahern (42 mins), Ruairi Dwane for O'Sullivan (59 mins).

OOLA: Mark Ryan; Hugh Maher, Fionn Roche, Denis Blackmore; Packie Richardson, Eamon Richardson, Seán Hanley; Conor Kenny, Darragh Coughlan; Diarmuid Crowe, Paddy Ryan M, Micheál Ryan B; George Maher, Robbie McGrath, Josh McLoughlin. SUBS: Darren Kennedy for Packie Richardson (61 mins), Seán O'Donnell for Conor Kenny (61 mins).

REFEREE: Mike Browne (Dromcollogher-Broadford)