Fr Casey's see off Na Piarsaigh to book Limerick senior football quarter-final spot

“WE DID some great stuff but we mixed it in with some awful passages of play and we never got our game to flow as we wanted. Still, it was all about the result and we did enough to get over the line.”

As his side qualified for the county senior football quarter-finals with a 1-17 to 1-14 final round Group Two qualifying round victory over Na Piarsaigh in Rathkeale's Seán Finn Park on Saturday, Fr Casey's manager Mike O'Brien was mixing relief with frustration at a perfomance that at times looked like winning with ease only to repeatedly lose concentration against opponents who were already condemned to the relegation play-offs.

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On the plus side, Fr Casey's dominance of midfield gave them a platform to pile on the pressure once they moved out of their own half and, whenever they piled forward on the break, they were able to open up the scoring opportunities.

But whenever the Fealesiders' looked like building up a match-winning lead, the nerves failed them within the score zone and Na Piarsaigh's quick responses on the turnover exposed the vulnerability of their full-back line to the delivery from deep.

With little more than pride to play for, the Caherdavin side could have folded over once their opponents stretched their legs but, as in their previous outing against group leaders Adare, the city side weren't going to leave the stage without a fight.

Maybe the final package hasn't been assembled yet but this developing side showed a toughness under pressure and an ability to win possession within sight of the posts should stand to them in the relegation play-offs.

Na Piarsiagh threw everything into an opening onsluaght and were immediately rewarded when Donal O'Connell ran onto the rebound off Daniel Collins's shot to slam to the net, The city side then sent two point chances wide before Fr Caseys found their shape in their midfield to create a response.

However, their first effort saw Eoghan Sherlock fling himself across Martin Scannell's shot before Rory O'Brien opened their account. They were back level when Michael Kilbridge and O'Brien found the target.

It should have been the signal for them to move on but, after Sherlock again stopped Scannell's shot on goal, the Northsiders pulled a foul off a long clearance for Evan Egan to punish, a sequence they repeated two further times as Seán Kilbridge and Scannell moved them two ahead.

Two Scannell pointed frees appeared to have steadied the Fealesiders but they were still wasting chances on taking a pass too many before getting in the shot.

A loss of concentration at the back then led to Tommy Glynn pouncing on the pass to fist off the crossbar before collecting the rebound return to point.

Gordon Brown then levelled for Na Piarsaigh when he whacked over a two-pointer before Matthew O'Connor came up from deep to restore the Abbeyfeale team's lead.

The sides were level again when Jack McCarthy replied before Scannell's free restored Casey's advantage. However, right on the half-time, Collins' effort at a two-pointer drifted just wide to leave the score unchanged at 1-9 to 1-8.

Looking somewhat more composed on the resumption, Eliah Riordan's two-pointer free triplied the gap and it could have doubled again had Sherlock not saved Michal Kilbridge's shot into the top corner.

O'Brien then fisted over a consolation point. However, when they didn't pull back from a mark and then argued the decision, the ball was brought forward to the edge of the arc for Kieran Daly's two-pointer.

It looked like as if Caseys' mental wobbles might be returning, but they steadied themselves long enough for Eoin Joy, Riordan's pointed free and Dylan Quirke to put them five points ahead heading into the final quarter.

At that stage, a succession of stoppages and subsititions sucked the continuity from the play and it took 10 scoreless minutes before Daly's two-pointer free for Na Piarsaigh resumed the game as a contest.

Quirke replied with a point for the West Limerick side only to see his team's advantage shrink back to two deep into added time after a third Daly double-pointer free.

Diarmuid Buckley relieved some of the pressure on Casey's by striking back at the end of a run up the middle but they still had to see Daly fail with his last long free before Martin Doherty's whistle called time.

SCORERS: FR CASEY'S: Martin Scannell 1-3 (0-3 frees), Eliah Riordan 0-4 (1 free, 1 2xfree), Rory O'Brien 0-3, Dylan Quirke 0-2, Michael Kilbridge, Seán Kilbridge, Matthew O'Connor, Eoin Joy, Diarmuid Buckley 0-1 each; NA PIARSAIGH: Kieran Daly 0-6 (3 2xfrees), Donal O'Connell 1-0, Evan Egan 0-3 (3 frees), Gordon Brown 0-2 (1 2x), Daniel Collins, Tommy Glynn, Jack McCarthy 0-1 each.

FR CASEY'S: Shane O'Connell; John Riordan, Matthew O'Connor, Cualann Quigley, Michael Kilbridge, Seán Kilbridge, Mark McCarthy; Eliah Riordan, Sam Quigley; Dylan Quirke, Diarmuid Buckley, Rory O'Brien; Daniel Daly, Donagh Kelly, Martin Scannell. SUBS: Eoin Joy for Daniel Daly (injured, 34 minutes), Calum Boyle for John Riordan (50 minutes), Adam Fitzgedrald for Martin Scannell (53 minutes), Evan O'Connor for Rory O'Brien (55 minutes), David Ward for Dylan Quirke (59 minutes).

NA PIARSAIGH: Eoghan Sherlock; Fionn Ó Tairnaigh, Cian Counihan, Christy O'Hagan; Cathal McMullan, Ralph Leonard, Ronan Houlihan; Donal O'Connell, Jack McCarthy; Kieran Daly,Evan Egan, Gordon Brown; Dylan Cronin, Tommy Glynn, Daniel Collins. SUBS: Evan Gilvarry for Cathal McMullan (48 minutes), Adam Jordan foor Donal O'Connell (55 minutes), Aaron Rush for Fionn Ó Tiarnaigh (55 minutes).

REFEREE: Martin Doherty (Rathkeale).