Ballybrown score narrow win over South Liberties in Limerick senior hurling championship

BALLYBROWN took another giant step towards qualification for the Bon Secours Limerick senior hurling championship play-offs after getting the better of South Liberties on a 0-25 to 1-20 scoreline after a tight, high-scoring Group Two clash in Fedamore on Saturday evening.

Given that Liberties came into the game on the back of two losses, their ability to stay the distance may have surprised onlookers but, with their survival in the top grade at stake, they gave everything to tying down their opponents' scoring threats from throw-in to long whistle.

As a result, the game boiled down for the most part into a free-taking duel between county panelists Barry Nash, of Liberties, and Ballybrown's Aidan O'Connor  although the winners didn't help their cause by notching up 17 wides against their opponents' six over the course of the hour.

In the end, the greater depth of the Ballybrown panel held sway as injuries and unavailability forced both sides into changes from the line-ups announced in the match sheet. This was felt in particular in the central diamond where the steadiness and combination of Colin Coughlan at centre-back and O'Connor at centre-forward gave the Clarina side an axis upon which to build their attacks.

Quick points from Bryan Griffin and Barry Adams got Ballybrown off the mark. However, a lack of fluency up front stopped them adding to their lead and they paid for it when David Garry's low delivery slipped in behind the defence for Ben Crompton to lift, run and strike to the net.

After Limerick senior star Barry Nash added a point, the Clarina side settled down for O'Connor to add points from a free and from play and Griffin to restore their lead. Even though Nash equalised off a free, O'Connor hit back from a pointed free and from play, before Ben Adams was denied adding to their lead when Anthony Nash smothered his shot on goal.

Going into the second quarter, however, their shooting went haywire and Liberties used the breeze for Garry to strike back twice with points.

After O'Connor had interrupted a sequence of Ballybrown wides with a shot from the sideline, Barry Cooney, Barry Nash and Ken Byrnes had points to have the Knockea club ahead by two.

Colin Coughlan and Luke O'Connor then replied only to be overtaken by a Cooney point and from Nash courtesy of one from a free and from play. However, in the four added minutes, points from Aidan O'Connor, Lee Doolan and O'Connor's free tied the half-time score at 0-13 to 1-10.

The game restarted to a series of one-on-one contests giving little scope for continuous play and, with the only openings coming from frees, Nash converted one and another pair after O'Connor's in reply before another from O'Connor was followed by Luke O'Connor's equaliser from the first score from play.

However, Ballybrown were edging into dominance by this stage as another two Aidan O'Connor pointed frees were followed by an exchange between Crompton and Andy Cliffe. A run of wides stopped Ballybrown from taking a bigger lead by the three-quarter mark, however.

Two Nash pointed frees had 'the Souths' back in business before the Clarina side rediscovered some focus for O'Connor to punish another three fouls and, going into the home straight, the gap remained at three as Nash's free was met by Barry Adams and Brian Garry by Colin Coughlan.

As the stopwatch headed towards added time, Nash's pointed free and Conney's point shaved the margin back to the minimum.

However, Cliffe's reply eased the pressure on Ballybrown as Liberites' attempts to find a match-winning goal were held out by a resolute defence.

SCORERS: BALLYBROWN: Aidan O'Connor 0-14 (10 frees), Brian Griffin, Barry Adams, Colin Coughlan, Luke O'Connor, Andy Cliffe 0-2 each, Lee Doolan 0-1; SOUTH LIBERTIES: Barry Nash 0-12 (10 frees), Ben Crompton 1-2, Barry Cooney 0-3, David Garry 0-2, Ken Byrnes 0-1.

BALLYBROWN: Josh O'Reilly; Stevie O'Reilly, Kenny Power, Keith Punch; Thomas O'Leary, Colin Coughlan, Killian Gavin; Killian Gavin, Lee Doolan; Ben Adams, Ross Kenny, Aidan O'Connor, Bryan Griffin; Barry Adams, Luke O'Connor, Barry O'Connor. SUBS: Ross Griffin for Ben Adams (41 minutes), Andy Cliffe for Barry O'Connor (41 minutes).

SOUTH LIBERTIES: Anthony Nash; Mike O'Brien, Eoin Quilty, Alex Keys; John Hickey, Owen Dunne, David Garry; Paddy O'Donnell, Ken Byrnes; Shane Brosnan, Barry Cooney, Barry Nash; Ben Crompton, Brendan McSweeney, Joe Hegarty. SUB: Brian Garry for Joe hegarty (half-time).

REFEREE: John O'Halloran (Bruree).