Monaleen make it three wins in-a-row with victory over Dromin-Athlacca in Limerick senior hurling championship

MONALEEN have made it three wins in-a-row after an impressive 2-20 to 1-14 victory over Dromin-Athlacca in the fourth round of the Bons Secours Hospital County Senior Hurling Championship in Cappamore on Friday evening. 

Despite registering a huge amount of wides in the opening half, the Castletroy-based side led the exciting Group two contest until a Dromin-Athlacca goal from Jack Fitzgibbon after 34 minutes put them narrowly ahead.

This lead lasted all of five minutes, however, as Monaleen hit back strongly to bring their second half tally of points to an impressive 13.

This was Dromin Athlacca's second loss on the bounce after their defeat to Kildimo Pallaskenry last week. They now face Ballybrown in their crucial final group game as Monaleen take on Kildimo-Pallaskenry in two weeks' time. 

It was Limerick senior hurling star David Reidy that opened the scoring of Friday's sun-soaked game with a free after just 47 seconds of play. This point was cancelled out by Eoghan O'Driscoll's effort closely followed by Donnacha O'Dálaigh score to put Monaleen one point to the good. 

Reidy then pointed a further two scores, one directly in-front of his own bench, before David Breen stepped up to score on the opposite side of the pitch to leave it 0-4 to 0-3 in Dromin-Athlacca's favour after six minutes. 

Dromin-Athlacca were put under serious pressure multiple times by the Monaleen forwards as they tried to clear the danger out of their own half. This pressure eventually paid off for Monaleen as minor player Matthew Fitzgerald intercepted the ball and rifled a shot into the back of the net to put them 1-3 to 0-4 ahead.

Now behind, Dromin-Athlacca relied heavily on Reidy's frees as he slotted over another score before assisting in Breen's effort.

However, a ball into the Monaleen full-forward line was not taken care of by goalie James Kelleher as Limerick senior player Donnacha O'Dálaigh got his hurl to the ball firing it into the back of the net for their second goal after 17 minutes.

Reidy fired over another two frees, but Monaleen finished up the half on a Luke Murphy point to leave the Castletroy team in the lead 2-7 to 0-10 at the break.

Much like the first-half, Dromin-Athlacca's captain David Reidy converted a further two points from frees in the opening minutes of the second-half to keep his side in the game before the ball hit the post of the Monaleen goal landing in the hands of Dromin-Athlacca forward Jack Fitzgibbon, who made no mistake with the shot on 34 minutes to put them two-points ahead.

Monaleen's first score of the second period came from a Lorcan Lyons '65 and another point from O'Dálaigh levelled the game.

The lead went back and forth as Dromin-Athlacca slotted over a score from midfielder Mike Reidy which was cancelled out by Joseph Fitzgerald's effort.

This would be the final time the teams would be level in the game as Monaleen kicked into fifth gear in the middle portion of the half.

Points from O'Dálaigh and Fitzgerald kept the scoreboard ticking over as they registered five unanswered points before Dromin-Athlacca, through Reidy once again, got their final score of the game with a pointed free after 48 minutes. 

Monaleen were not content with sitting back though as they drove on once again in the closing ten minutes scoring a further six points to secure the 2-20 to 1-14 win. 

SCORERS: MONALEEN: Donnacha O'Dálaigh 1-4, Matthew Fitzgerald 1-5 (0-5 frees), Lorcan Lyons 0-2 (0-1 free, 0-1 65), Joseph Fitzgerald 0-2, Dara Ferland 0-2, Luke Murphy 0-2, Eoghan O'Driscoll, Andrew La Touche Cosgrave and Ben Hayes 0-1 each. DROMIN-ATHLACCA: David Reidy 0-9 (0-8 frees), Jack Fitzgibbon 1-0, David Breen 0-2, Cian Scully, Seanie O'Leary and Mike Reidy 0-1 each

MONALEEN: Jamie Power, Leo Morrison, Bryan Canny, Noel Clancy, Lorcan Lyons, Darragh Langan, Ronan Lyons, Joseph Fitzgerald, Lochlann McHale, Matthew Fitzgerald, Andrew La Touche Cosgrave, Eoghan O'Driscoll, Dara Ferland, Luke Murphy (Capt), Donnacha O'Dálaigh. SUBS: Ben Hayes for E O'Driscoll (42 minutes), Simon Griffin for D Ferland (58 minutes) 

DROMIN-ATHLACCA: James Kelleher, Shane Fitzgibbon, William Dore, Shane Scully, Peter Ryan, Cian Scully, Sean Morrissey, Mark Fitzpatrick, Mike Reidy, Daniel Scully, Jack Fitzgibbon, Peter McMahon, Seanie O'Leary, David Breen, David Reidy (Capt). SUBS: Shane Rabbite for P Ryan (57 minutes), Patrick O'Donoghue for M Fitzpatrick (59 minutes), Stephen Power for P McMahon (61 minutes)

REFEREE: Eamonn Stapleton