Disappointing year for Limerick clubs in Munster Hurling and Football Championships

THERE was disappointment for all three Limerick clubs involved in the Munster football championship action last weekend. Mungret St Paul's, Askeaton Ballysteen-Kilcornan and Ahane all exited the provincial championship at the semi-final stage.

Dingle proved to be too strong for Limerick senior champions Mungret St Paul's, cruising to a 2-15 to 0-2 victory over the Limerick senior champions in the Munster SFC semi-final.Mungret St Paul's were down a number of key players last weekend. Limerick footballers Jason Hassett and Darragh O'Hagan were both unavailable, while Limerick U20 captain Diarmuid Hynes, Brendan Giltenane, James Garvey and Frank Corcoran were also missing for the city club.

Sunday brought an end to Mungret St Paul's historic 2025 season with Kevin O'Hagan's side winning their first ever senior county title. The city club also won the premier minor football title this year and they will hope to complete an historic treble in the next couple of weeks when they compete in the premier U20 football championship.

“Our average age is actually in or around the 22 age mark. We are very young, we won a premier minor and a lot of those lads should be looking to force their way into this team,” Mungret St Paul's manager Kevin O'Hagan told Leader Sport on Sunday.

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Meanwhile, a late flurry of scores saw a gallant ABK Desmonds defeated by Aghabullogue of Cork 0-14 to 0-10 in the Munster club IFC semi-final last Sunday.

Joey Rushe and Danny Neville scored 0-8 between them in ABK Desmonds narrow Munster club IFC semi-final defeat.

“Overall, when we look back, it’s been a great year. We did what we set out to do which was win the intermediate championship. We would have liked to have gone that one step further, I felt we were capable of making the final, but it didn’t happen for us on the day,”ABK Desmonds manager Declan Ryan said.

Elsewhere, Ahane lined out without former Ireland rugby international Sean Cronin in their 2-15 to 0-11 defeat to Buttevant in the Munster Junior Football Championship semi-final.

“It mightn't have been our best performance of the season but I was happy with the effort everybody put in. We just didn't take enough chances to keep the pressure on them and that black card and missed penalty in the closing stages certainly didn't help,” said Ahane manager Gary Brennan afterwards.

All three Limerick clubs have now been knocked out of the provincial championships, while hurling champions Na Piarsaigh, Garryspillane and Knockaderry also failed to reach provincial hurling finals this year.

2025 has proved to be a difficult year for Limerick clubs in Munster and for the second year running no Limerick club will compete in provincial football or hurling finals.

Meanwhile, Limerick junior ‘B’ hurling champions Ballybrown face Ballyduff of Kerry in Munster JHC quarter-final on Saturday at 12pm in Killeedy GAA Grounds. Limerick junior B football champions Knockainey will be in action in the Munster Football Championship in January.