Glory for Murroe-Boher as they claim U20 'A' hurling title with narrow victory over Ahane

MURROE-BOHER have edged past Ahane in a thrilling Limerick U20 'A' hurling final claiming the cup with a one-point victory on a scoreline of 1-17 to 0-19 on UL's North Campus GAA pitch this Sunday afternoon. 

John O'Keeffe was the player that lifted Murroe-Boher to glory as he slotted over the match-winning free from 20 meters on the 60 minute mark after scoring a previous nine frees during the contest. 

This was Murroe-Boher's third U20 final in-a-row after winning the title in 2022 and narrowly losing out in last year's game after extra-time, making Sunday afternoon's victory even more special.

It was Pat Tobin's side that began the game at a blistering pace with the first point from play coming from Darren Collopy followed by a further five points within the opening ten minutes. 

A moment of madness from Murroe-Boher's goalie Evan Duffy saw him sent off with a straight red card offence within the opening few minutes of the game, leaving them with 14 players for the remainder of the games and Killian Quaid dropping back into the goals. 

John O'Keeffe and Oisin Holmes showed their free taking skills in these opening plays with Holmes putting over a fabulous long-range effort to put Murroe-Boher 0-6 to 0-0 after 12 minutes. 

Ahane finally settled into the game with their first score coming from a Jack Cosgrove free quickly followed by Donal Dawson's effort, who was playing in the full-forward line despite wearing number five on his back. 

Both sides exchanged scores for the next few minutes with Ahane's forwards did well to manipulate the space of having an extra player on the field.

Scores from Cosgrove and David Carr propelled them back into the game with O'Keeffe continuing to slot over frees on the other end to keep the game on a knife edge with the game level after 23 minutes on eights points a piece.

Even with a man down Murroe-Boher continued to battle hard for possession with a lovely linking play from Holmes to Cathal Sheridan, who found an on running Tommie Cusack on his right. With a quick hand-pass Cusack struck the sliothar off his left and fired the ball into the back of the net to gift them a vital goal on the 26 minute mark.

A final point from David Carr for Ahane was sent over the black spot followed by two more points for Murroe-Boher to give them the narrow lead at the break, 1-10 to 0-9.

It was Ahane that came out in the second-half all guns blazing with scores from Donal Dawson and Conor Ryan to keep them in the game. Murroe-Boher's first score of the half came from a huge long-range free from Oisin Holmes to get them on the scoreboard. 

Ahane scored a total of six points to Murroe-Boher's four points before the 50 minute mark, with three back-to-back frees going over the cross bar for Jack Cosgrove to bring them right back into the game. 

The East Limerick club used the extra player to their advantage in the second-half as scores began to come easily to their forwards. 

On the other end it was Murroe-Boher free taker John O'Keeffe that battled on for his side as the three point advantage of the goal proved vital. 

It was substitute Dara Moloughney who slotted over the levelling score for Ahane on 55 minutes to tie the game at 1-15 to 0-18. 

An O'Keeffe free on the other end pushed Murroe-Boher one point to the good again, but not for long as fellow free taker Cosgrove levelled the game again on the 60 minute with a free, which hit off the left post and went over. 

With the game in the balance a foul on either side would look sure to send over the winning score. Both sides of management warned their players not to do so but it was Ahane's full-back line that fouled in the first minute of injury time, gifting O'Keeffe a shot straight in front of the goals.

As he had done throughout the entire final the Murroe-Boher full-forward stepped up in his usual fashion and fired over the winning point of the game as the referee blew the full-time whistle. 

SCORERS: MURROE-BOHER: John O'Keeffe 0-9 (0-9 frees), Tommie Cusack 1-2, Oisin Holmes 0-2 and (0-2 frees), Darren Collopy, Conor Foley, Joe Shanahan and Cathal Sheridan 0-1 each AHANE: Jack Cosgrove 0-8 (0-6 frees), Donal Dawson 0-4, David Carr 0-2, James Rennison, Conor Ryan, Will McCormack, Denis Blackwell and Dara Moloughney 0-1 each.

MURROE-BOHER: Evan Duffy, Conor Barry, Liam Quaid (C), Calum Condon, Cathal Sheridan, Oisin Holmes, Harry Fitzgerald, Jamie Long, Conor Foley, Tommie Cusack, Darren Collopy, Joe Shanahan, Cathal Foley, John O'Keefe, Killian Quaid. SUBS: Cathal Foley for J Shanahan

AHANE: Eoin Murrihy, Anton Donohue, Conor Bickford, Stephen Hassett, Colm Slattery Wright, Gavin Rowesome (C), Denis Blackwell, Will McCormack, Conor Ryan, Jack Cosgrove, Craig O'Connell, David Carr, James Rennison, Donal Dawson, Darragh Humphreys. SUBS: Dara Moloughney for D Humphreys (34 minutes)

REFEREE: Kieran Guina (Feoghnagh/Castlemahon)