Dromin-Athlacca edge past Adare in Limerick senior hurling championship

DROMIN-ATHLACCA are two wins from two in the Bon Secours Limerick senior hurling championship after recording an exciting 2-16 to 1-16 victory over Adare in Ballyagran on Saturday afternoon. 

Tipped by some for a speedy return to premier intermediate ranks, the South Limerick club have set tongues wagging by topping the table with not just any dangers of relegation all but banished, but also prospects of qualification for the play-offs still very much with their reach.

While success on this occasion was delivered by Dromin-Athlacca's second goal right a the end of normal time, it was based on a never-say-die attitude that refused to buckle even when their more fabled opponents got their game together as the second half progressed.

Adare, who now have it all to do to stay in contention for the play-offs as well as fight off the danger of relegation, might have laid the seeds of their destruction with a first-half tally of ten wides. Adare allowed Dromin-Athlacca to go into the dressing-room level thanks to a pair of injury-time frees and conceded a goal inside a minute of the restart but they continued to shake off the setbacks until that late second goal proved to be one task too many.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the sides was the Dromin-Athlacca's side's ability to make the most of whatever advantage Limerick senior player Dave Reidy, with his leadership of the attack, and Cian Scully, through his marshalling of the defence, gave them.

Although Adare's final push to rescue the result introduced some late jitters into Dromin-Athlacca's youthful line-up, the composure and the ability to create and execute chances of their two county men allowed them to hold out to the final whistle.

Adare got the breaks in an evenly-contested start, drawing a foul for John Fitgibbon to punish with a pointed free and he followed up Mike Mackey collecting the break off a long delivery to slam to the net.

However, accuracy deserted them after that as they saw their run of wides punctuated by David Breen getting Athlacca off the mark with a point and, following Dave Reidy's free, points from Jack Fitzgibbon and Breen brought the sides level.

Despite struggling against Ronan Connolly and Declan Hannon under the puckout, the measured team play of the Dromin-Athlacca's club's backs created the deliveries for Daniel Scully to put them ahead .

However, they were relieved to see James Kelleher sprint from his line to block Wayne McNamara's advance on goal and, despite John Fitzgibbon converting the resulting '65', Reidy's pointed free had them leading again on the quarter hour.

With their grip tightening in the middle third, the Maiguesiders got themselves ahead off Darragh Gleeson's point from distance and Fitzgibbon's sideline cut but they then feasted themselves on wides as Reidy struck from play and from a free to restore his side's lead.

However, once they got the radar back running again, points from David O'Mahony, Fitzgibbon's '65' and his free had the Maiguesiders building what looked like a half-time advantage. However, just into added time, they conceded a pair of frees which saw Riedy tie the scores at 0-10 to 1-7.

It looked even better for the South Limerick side when Reidy's long free right on the restart broke in square for Seanie O'Leary to whip over the line.

While Mike Keane and Fitzgibbon's pointed free quickly replied for Adare, Dromin-Athlacca continued to lead as Cian Scully's point was matched by another Fitzgibbon free and one from Shane Glesson just moments after his introduction.

Reidy replied with a point under pressure before both sides cancelled themselves out in an intense, ten minute spell interrupted by stoppages failed to deliver a score.

Keeping the ball away from Reidy and forcing their opponents to shoot from outside their comfort zone, Adare slowly tightened their grip going into the closing straight as points from David O'Mahony and Brendan O'Connor shot them into a lead which O'Mahomy recovered after Breen's equaliser.

After the free-scoring Reidy sent over another free, the sides were still locked with a regulation minute to go. Adare's efforts to edge back ahead were being just about held by frantic Dromin-Athlacca defending when the script moved onto its last page when another long range Reidy free was grabbed by Jack Fitzgibbon who turned and walloped beyond PJ Hall's reach.

Gleeson's immediate reply raised hopes of another Adare recovery in the six added minutes. However, they were dampened by O'Leary collecting the puckout to strike back over the crossbar and, even though a John Fitzgibbon free for Adare brought the gap back to two, the ever-dependable Reidy sent over another huge free to complete the scoring.

SCORERS: DROMIN-ATHLACCA: Dave Reidy 0-9 (7 frees), Seanie O'Leary, Jack Fitzgibbon 1-1 each. David Breen 0-3, Daniel Scully, Cian Scully 0-1 each; ADARE: John Fitzgibbon 0-8 (5 frees, 2 '65's), Mike Mackey 1-0, David O'Mahony 0-3, Shane Gleeson 0-2, Darragh Gleeson, Joe Sweeney, Mike Keane 0-1 each.

DROMIN-ATHLACCA: James Kelleher; Shane Fitzgibbon, William Dore, Shane Scully; Peter Ryan, Cian Scully, Shane Rabbitte; Patrick O'Donoghue, Mike Reidy; Daniel Scully, Jack Fitzgibbon, Peter McMahon; Shane O'Leary, David Breen. Dave Reidy. SUB: Mark Fitzpatrick for Shane Fitzgibbon (45 minutes).

ADARE: PJ Hall. Eoghan Costello, Mike Keane, Jack Fitzgerald; Ronan Connolly, Declan Hannon, Darragh Gleeson; Joe Sweeney, John Fitzgibbon; David O'Mahony, Wayne McNamara, Sam Hickey; Paudie Heffernan, Brendan O'Connor, Mike Mackey. SUBS: Shane Gleeson for Wayne McNamara (injured, 34 minutes).

REFEREE: Kieran Guina (Feohanagh).