Mungret St Paul's set for clash with Dingle in Munster Senior Football Championship semi-final

MUNGRET ST PAUL'S will enter the Munster Senior Football Club Championship for the first time in their club's history this weekend.The Limerick champions take on Dingle on Sunday afternoon at 1pm in Austin Stack Park, Tralee.

Kevin O'Hagan's side are set to be down a number of starters this weekend.Limerick midfielder Darragh O'Hagan is set to undergo shoulder surgery. Jason Hassett is currently caught up with college commitments on his erasmus in France. Limerick U20 football captain Diarmuid Hynes is currently sidelined with a broken foot.

“My own lad Darragh put off his shoulder surgery three weeks ago, he's looking at himself for next year and trying to get some time with Limerick. He'll have an operation on Friday, he definitely won't be there at the weekend. Jason Hassett is away in France with college, we just can't arrange to get him back and back over on Monday morning,” Mungret St Paul's manager Kevin O'Hagan told Leader Sport.

“Diarmuid Hynes was well strapped up in the county final, he actually played with a broken foot in the last two games and at this stage the advice will probably be that we need to rest him as well,” added O'Hagan.

READ NEXT: Mungret St Paul's footballer Ciaran Uwatse hoping he can inspire others

Mungret St Paul's won their first ever Limerick Senior Football Championship title defeating Newcastle West 0-12 to 1-5 the county final.The city side experienced the Munster club championship at the intermediate grade in 2023. O'Hagan's side were defeated by Cill na Martra of Cork in the Munster IFC final two years ago.

Dingle won the Kerry Senior Football Championship for the first time in 77 years when they got the better of Austin Stacks.
Kerry footballers Dylan Geaney, Conor Geaney, Paul Geaney and Tom O'Sullivan are all part of the west Kerry outfit.O'Hagan feels Sunday will give some of the players on the fringes of the Mungret St Paul's senior football squad a chance to step up.

“The fact we are down players is actually a motivation in itself, these people that we might be down. The motivation is that we have to try and do our best for them. We just go out there, play the game, we normally play and hopefully the style we normally play, then we will see where that takes us against a team as good as Dingle.”

“A big opportunity there for fella's on Sunday, fella's that may not have got game time before, that's the way they should look at it and that's way we should look at it as a team.”

Newcastle West were the last team from Limerick to contest a provincial senior football club final in 2022.The winners of Sunday's Munster SFC semi-final will face St. Finbarr's of Cork or Éire Óg of Clare in the Munster final on December 7.

“That togetherness that we have brought in the last couple of years with this team as a club is vital to the progess of football and to hurling and all codes in our club” outlined O'Hagan.