Limerick champions Ahane fall short against Buttevant in the Munster club football championship

AHANE exited the Munster Junior Club Football Championship this Saturday afternoon after they fell to Cork champions Buttevant in wet and cold Kildorrery Saturday afternoon.

The provincial semi-final finished, Butevant 2-15, Ahane 0-11.

A final ten-point margin suggests that the game followed the usual pattern of Limerick representatives against those from Cork and Kerry at this level of competition but it wasn't until the five added minutes of injury time that the team from Avondhu could see victory coming within their grasp. Up to that point, every time they looked as if they were on the point of moving on, Ahane pulled themselves back into contention and reseeded the doubts in the favourites' minds.

Although Conor Hanlon shot Buttevant into the lead straight from the throw-in, the cagey opening exchanges allowed Ahane build some shape into their game and, after seeing Aaron Trimm's shot off a goalmouth fumble being stopped inside the small square, they equalised when Dónal Dawson struck on the break off the resulting clearance and they took the lead when Ronan Fox pointed after turning over the kick-out. 

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However, the Limerick standard-bearers' encouraging start ground to a sudden halt in the next passage of play when Anthony O'Neill collected off the kick-out and found Mark Lenahan who raced into the open space up the middle and then blasted into the top corner as he round the challenge.

Peter Donohue's strike after a Buttevant kick-out was turned over brought the Spudboilers back to within a point but the Corkmen were beginning to impose themselves in the middle third which delivered a point from play and one from a free from Conor Hanlon. 

Going past the quarter-mark, Liam Óg Glynn returned the compliment although in reverse order with his a free followed by his strike after the kickout was turned over but Ahane failed to break the defensive wall after that and, when the Rebel club took over possession coming up to the break, Adam O'Connell's point on the turn was followed Mark Lenahan, O'Connell again and another two from Lenahan which left them leading 1-8 to 0-5 as they took to the dressing-room.

The momentum looked to have carried across the break as Kevin Sheehan fisted over immediately off the restart, was quickly followed by Hanlon's free and would have been even greater had Sheehan's blockbuster off a flowing not been stopped in the small square but the Castleconnell club moved their line of engagement forward for Glynn to point after collecting off a quick free and then send over a pair of frees of his own, the second brought in for dissent, before their opponents readjusted their formation in response.

Even though Hanlon broke the sequence, the Ahane attacks continued but with decreasing effect and it looked as if their challenge was spent when an extended period without a score ended with Séamus Madigan bursting onto the handpass to whack just over the crossbar.

But the Limerickmen weren't dead yet and found another dart of momentum when Mark Donnellan's point was followed by Dawson snatching the game's only two-pointer as he turned onto the handpass to shoot from well outside the arc and shave the gap back to four.

They could have edged closer had two frees just on the arc not tailed wide of the target but their ability to keep up the pressure on their opponents deflated when Pádraig Harnett departed for the remainder of the game on a black card. Making the most of their numerical advantage, Buttevant soaked up the attacks and forced the turnovers for David Hanlon and Lenihan to punish and, even after their confidence was jolted again just going into added time when Dawson was pulled down after ghosting in behind the defence to Donnellan's long delivery, they knew it was their day when his penalty blasted wide and they celebrated their escape with Lenihan's point from and Hanlon finishing off a flowing attack from winning the kickout by drilling the ball low into the far corner.

SCORERS, BUTTEVANT: Mark Lenahan 1-5, Conor Hanlon 0-5 (2 frees), David Hanlon 1-1, Adam O'Connell 0-2, Kevin Sheehan, Séamus Madigan 0-1 each; AHANE: Liam Óg Glynn 0-5 (3 frees), Dónal Dawson 0-3 (1 2x), Ronan Fox, Peter Donohue, Mark Donnellan 0-1 each.

BUTTEVANT: Ronan O'Donovan; Michael Walsh, Jamie Whelan, Kevin Crowley; Séamus Madigan, Kyle Bowles, John O'Neill; Anthony O'Neill, Kevin Lenahan; Mark Lenahan, Conor Hnlon, Aaron Trimm; David Hanlon, Billy O'Riordan, Aaron Horgan. SUBS: Kevin Sheehan for Billy O'Riordan (injured, 29 minutes), Donal Ryan for Aaron Horgan (30 minutes), Ben O'Connor for John O'Neill (46 minutes). Jamie O'Brien for Kevin Crowley (49 minutes), David Keane for Anthony O'Neill (49 minutes).

AHANE: Tristan O'Sullivan; Anton Donohue, Peter O'Grady, Dylan O'Connell; Ian Keatley, Craig O'Connell, Peter Donohue; Gavin Rowsome, Ronan Fox; Pádraig Harnett, Liam Óg Glynn, Paddy Hussey; Dónal Dawson, Mark Donnellan, Adam O'Connell. SUBS: Jack Butler for Peter Donohue (half-time), Michael Kearney for Ian Keatley (43 minutes), Jamie Lyons for Adam O'Connell (53 minutes), John Clifford for Ronan Fox (injured, 58 minutes), Will McCormack for Lam Óg Glynn (58 minutes).

REFEREE: Evan Horan (Kerry).