Mungret St Paul's earn promotion to Limerick SHC top table after win over Ballybrown

Ballybrown's Josh Adams and Mungret St Pauls' Fintan Fitzgerald battle for possession during their Limerick SHC fixture in Claughaun | PICTURE: Brendan Gleeson

placeholder image — Ballybrown's Josh Adams and Mungret St Pauls' Fintan Fitzgerald battle for possession during their Limerick SHC fixture in Claughaun | PICTURE: Brendan Gleeson

MUNGRET ST Paul's are basking in glory this Sunday afternoon following a three-point win over Ballybrown that ensures they earn promotion to Group One of the Limerick SHC next year.

Liam Lynch scored with proved to be the crucial goal six minutes from time that put Mungret in front for the first time in the contest and they held on for a stunning win. Ballybrown finish second in the group despite the loss and will be in Saturday's quarter-finals.

Lynch finished with a highly impressive scoring haul of 1-12 to see Mungret reach the top table in 2024 - just two years after being promoted from the Premier IHC.

Ballybrown, aided by a strong breeze, hit form early on with Ross Griffin, Luke O'Connor and two from Josh Adams putting them four up after four minutes.

Lynch broke the Mungret duck but efforts from O'Connor and Andy Cliffe had Ballybrown 0-6 to 0-1 ahead with six minutes of the game played.

However, Mungret roared back into the game when Paul O'Brien released Barry Duff and he raced away from the Ballybrown defence before finishing to the net.

It was a tight contest for large parts of the first half with Lynch keeping Mungret in touch but scores from Cliffe, Leigh Doolan, Aidan O'Connor and Colin Coughlan saw Ballybrown leading 0-14 to 1-5 at the break.

That lead was whittled down to just three points in the 47th minute after a long range Pa Begley effort. The game turned on its head on 54 minutes when Lynch was put through on goal by Niall Mulcahy and he made no mistake with a low shot to the net that saw them 2-15 to 0-19.

Lynch then made it a three-point advantage with a free. Cliffe responded with a placed ball from Ballybrown but Paul O'Brien's stunning strike from the right wing to seal the win that ushered in jubilant celebrations.

In the other Group Two game, Adare were 0-17 to 1-7 victors over Monaleen in a game that had consequences on who made the quarter-finals.

With Mungret beating Ballybrown, Adare were in contention to make the last eight and finish second in the group but 1-1 by Monaleen's Lorcan Lyons saw them Adare lose out on the knockout stages by one-point in the scoring difference.

Aidan O'Rahill'ys men were four points up after a dominant opening quarter and continued in that manner for the rest of the half to lead 0-13 to 0-1 at the short whistle.

Monaleen improved drastically after the break with Luke Murphy, Andrew La Touche Cosgrave, Joe Fitzgerald and Eoghan O'Driscoll all on target.

However, Adare continued to control the game with John Fitzgibbon on target from placed balls. It looked good for Adare heading into added time with the other result going their way, but the late scoring spree from Lyons crushed their hopes of a knockout place.