Newcastle West off to winning start in Limerick premier intermediate hurling championship

NEWCASTLE West got their Lyons of Limerick county  premier intermediate hurling championship campaign off on the right foot with what turned out in the end to be a comfortable 1-18 to 0-14 win over newly-promoted Granagh-Ballingarry in Rathkeale's Seán Finn Park on Thursday evening.

In a game dominated by the elements, the winners made the most of the game's only goal to trail by just a point at the break before opening up in the final quarter with six unanswered scores as Granagh-Ballingarry's attempts at containment finally ran out of gas.

Although they managed to keep the margin to just a single point coming up to that final burst, Granagh-Ballingarry, back in the county's second level of competition for the first time in eight years, lacked the spread of quality right through their line-up to put themselves in a position of dominance.

The closest they got was midway through the first half when they overcame that unfortunate goal with a run of scores. However, despite restricting their West Limerick opponents to just a single score from play in the opening period, their lead never managed to extend beyond two points.

The Magpies' biggest problem was their finishing. Just three of their lineup made it onto the scoresheet as their wide tally of 16 dwarfed their opponents total of just two in each half. It was only in the closing minutes as the spaces opened up in a tiring defence that they managed to find some fluency in their attempts on the posts.

Winners Newcastle West found themselves just a point behind, 0-12 to 1-8, at the interval with Ethan Hurley accounting for the winners goal.

SCORERS: NEWCASTLE WEST: Eoin Hurley 0-11 (9 frees), Ethan Hurley 1-5 (1-1 frees), Cathal Hayes 0-2; GRANAGH-BALLINGARRY: Damien O'Donovan 0-4 (2 frees), Cahtal O'Keeffe 0-3 (2 frees), Darragh Casey 0-2, Ronan Mullins, Josh Mulcaire-Quille, Denis O'Connor (free), Mike Russell, Luke Flynn 0-1 each.

NEWCASTLE WEST: Mike Quilligan; Maurice Murphy, Séamus Hurley, Colm Foley; Michael Cremin, Ethan Hurley, Diarmuid Lyons; Ruadhán O'Connor, Brian Hurley; Con Hayes, Willie Hurley, Diarmaid Kelly; Cathal Hayes, Eoin Hurley, Brian Foley. SUBS: Evan McMahon for Willie Hurley ((51 minutes), John Whelan for Con Hayes (56 minutes), Todd Donovan for Ethan Hurley (injured (60 minutes), Aaron Neville for Ruadhán O'Connor (injured, 65 minutes).

GRANAGH-BALLINGARRY: Denis O'Connor; Eoghan Casey, John Kealy, Brian Sheehy; Ronan Mullins, Jack Cagney, Colm Noonan; Josh Mulcaire-Quille, Darragh Casey; Mike Russell, Luke Flynn, Cathal O'Keeffe; Paudie Murphy, Damian O'Donovan, Eoin Lynch. SUB: David Condron for Damien O'Donovan (injured, 53 minutes).

REFEREE: Kieran Guina (Feohanagh).