Mungret St Paul's see off Monaleen to book Limerick Premier U20 football final place

“RELIEVED to get through that very nervous ending and lucky to see that late goal chance go wide but we should have the game killed off long before then,” was how manager John Hutton reacted to Mungret St Paul's defeating city rivals Monaleen 2-9 to 0-12 in Limerick Premier U-20 football semi-final on the 4G surface of UL's North Campus on Saturday afternoon.

The result, which sees them advance to a showdown with Oola in the decider, keeps Mungret St Paul's on course for a momentuous senior, U-20 and minor treble in the top grade's of Limerick football competition, a sweep which was achieved by Monaleen when they won their first senior title in 1978.

A ninth-minute goal after they had blunted their opponents' opening blitz gave Mungret St Paul's a lead that they never subsequently lost and allowed them to dictate the course of the remainder of the game.

READ NEXT: Five-try Munster 'A' secure exciting draw with Leinster 'A' in interprovincial clash

While there were times when the winners looked to be relentlessly grinding their way to victory, Monaleen's game response carried all the way to the end and could have carried on to extra-time had a goal chance right before the final whistle not shaved the wrong side of the upright.

Although they lined out into the breeze, Monaleen monopolised the early possession but their extended attacks were held off until Andrew Kearney bundled past the challenges to get them off the mark.

Mungret had the opportunity to reply but wasted it on a couple of missed chances but, after resisting their opponents attempts to extend their lead, Killian Begley changed the course of the game by turning over the ball in his own half and streaking past four challenges in a 90-metre solo before silding past the advancing Cian Ó hAodha and into the corner of the Monaleen net.

When Muiris Ahern added a point after a sustained series of attacks, it looked as if the Raheen-based club were in the ascendantcy, but they failed to add meat to their dominance of primary possession and, once Monaleen wrested back control of the middle, the gap narrowed to the minimum following Robbie Widger's point under extreme pressure and Kearney's '45'.

Mungret St Paul's's immediate efforts to find an answer stumbled on missed chances but, coming up to the break, they finally rediscovered their range through points Luke Walsh and Ciarán Scully before Barry Griffin sent over a free with the last kick of the first to narrow the deficit facing Monaleen to 1-3 to 0-4.

However, that widened again as the Raheen side dominated the restart and their sustained pressure led to Ahern's long pot, Rory Mullins's pointed free, brought in to the 20 metre line for dissent, and Conor Collins at the end of a passing movement all finding the target.

It could have more had Ahern's piledriver at the end of lightning attack not crashed off the near upright. But Mungret St Paul's accuracy dried up after that as their line retreated, giving their opponents the opportunity to move forward in numbers and, while their defensive shape still held up coming up to the three-quarter mark, points in quick succession from Shane Dolan and Cillian Clifford brought Monaleen back into contact.

However, Walsh's point off a quick break interrupted the Castletroy side's march back towards parity but it resumed with a bang when they decided to get the best out of the breeze and, when Kearney struck back with a two-pointer free, the gap had been shaved back to just two points.

Stung into reaction, Mungret St Paul's drew a foul that was brought forward to tap-over range for dissent which Walsh converted. With eight regulation minutes to go, it looked like a case of job done when a raid in from the left found Walsh inside the large square to blast to the net.

However, Monaleen still refused to lie down as the resulting kickout found its way to Mark Field to whack over a two-pointer and, when that was immediately followed by Dolan matching him with another double as he powered in from the right, the game was still in the balance.

Mungret St Pauls's could have stolen another march with a breakaway attack before losing possession with the goals at their mercy, but they at least got some consolation when Conor Mangan pointed when collecting off the resulting '45'.

Monaleen tried their best to summon up another recovery but energy levels had dropped as Mungret's defence closed out with increasing confidence.

However, there was almost a final twist in the tail when Clifford ghosted in behind the defence to collect a long delivery only to blast just wide of the far post with the final chance of the hour.

SCORERS: MUNGRET ST PAUL'S: Luke Walsh 1-3 (0-1 free), Killian Begley 1-0, Muiris Ahern 0-2, Ciarán Scully, Rory Mullins (free), Conor Collins, Conor Mangan 0-1 each; MONALEEN: Barry Griffin 0-4 (1 free, 1 2x free), Shane Dolan (1 2x), Andrew Kearney (1 2x, 1 '45') 0-3 each, Robbie Widger, Cillian Clifford 0-1 each.

MUNGRET ST PAUL'S: Jake Foley; Brian Hassett, Cian Kinnevane, Conor Collins; Conor Ó Longaigh, Conor Mangan, Tom Lloyd; George Lloyd, Rory O'Callaghan; Ciarán Scully, Mark O'Brien, Killian Begley; Muiris Ahern, Rory Mullins, Luke Walsh. SUBS: Aaron Morgan for Rory O'Callaghan (49 minutes), Darragh Hogan for Muiris Ahern (56 minutes).

MONALEEN: Cian Ó hAodha; Luke Ryan, Cian Scully, Tom McCarthy; Conor Gavin, Peter Scully, Jack Doyle; Barry Griffin, Andrew Kearney; Robbie Widger, Paul Kenny, Harry McDermott; Shane Dolan, Mark Field, Cillian Clifford. SUBS: James Kelly for Tom McCarthy (injured, 20 minutes), Jamie Crowley for Robbie Widger (36 minutes).

REFEREE: Liam O'Sullivan (Claughaun).