Limerick champions Kildimo-Pallaskenry earn Munster Junior 'B' club final spot in dramatic fashion

“WE BUILT up a winning lead with the wind at out backs and then held our distance for most of the second half. But we sure were relieved to hold out in the end."

Celebrating Kildimo-Pallaskenry's thrilling 1-13 to 1-12 win in the Munster Junior B hurling semi-final in Raheenagh on Saturday, their manager Brendan O'Shea saluted the composure shown by his charges as they withstood a fierce closing minutes rally by Clare champions Tulla to qualify for next Saturday's provincial decider

Making the most of the wind advantage, Limerick champions Kildimo-Pallaskenry recovered from a nervous start to dominate play before the break and an early goal from a penalty gave them the platform to assemble a tidy lead by the break.

Continuing to dominate the middle third, the winners held their opponents at bay up to the three-quarter but, just when it looked as if it was job done, Tulla brought on sub Jack McSweeney almost changed the course of the game.

When a seven-point lead shrank to just one point inside seven minutes, Kildimo-Pallaskenry looked as if they were there for the taking. However, the Limerick side really showed their character to hold off an equaliser long enough to fill Banner heads with doubt.

The winners always looked the more likely to advance through the frantic closing exchanges that brought both sets of supporters to their feet.

Although they started into the stiff breeze, Clare representatives Tulla made the the early, taking the lead inside seconds though Cathal Culloo and then followed up by Dan Ryan collecting the handpass at the end of an attack.

Kildimo-Pallaskenry, on the other hand, were sending opportunities wide before an Aaron O'Donovan pointed free got them off the mark.

The course of the game then changed when, after Adam Butler was fouled rounding the goalkeeper, John Chawke walked all the way up from his goals to bury the penalty into the net.

With the bit now between the teeth, the Limerick side was denied a second goal when Aaron Shanahan brought off a double save off Adam Butler and Keel Moloney.

However, after O'Donovan sent over the resulting '65, this was followed by points from Luke Guinane and skipper Rodger Ryan's pair to put them six ahead.

Going into the run up to the break, Séan McNamara's free and Dan Ryan broke the sequence, but they picked it up again through Moloney, Callum Callaghan and Moloney again before McNamara tapped over an added time free to reduce the Banner club's deficit to six, 1-8 to 0-5.

A furious Tulla restart saw McNamara punish another foul right after the throw-in. However, a pair of wides then sucked the momentum for Kildimo-Pallaskenry to settle down and increase their advantage through Cathal Downes and O'Donovan's free.

Indeed, they could have moved out of sight had Gary Sheehan's speculative low shot not been blocked by the advancing Sheehan before the game entered a phase of the Limerick side maintaining their lead as their opponents ran out of ideas.

Following an exchange of frees between McNamara and O'Donovan, the introduction of McSweeney had an immediate effect on the Clare side's fortunes as he followed up another McNamara free with a point from distance and then, just after Shane Hunt matched O'Donovan's free, he followed up on Chawke's save off his shot with a high flick off the rebound to the net.

The gap was immediately pulled back to minimum by McNamara's only point from play but, after those two explosive minutes, Tulla's momentum punctured on a pair of wides.

Holding their nerve and eating up the clock, O'Donovan's free eased the pressure on Kildimo-Pallaskenry going into added time and, despite McSweeney striking again two minutes beyond regulation, they kept their composure long enough to deny their opponents the equaliser.

SCORERS: KILDIMO-PALLASKENRY: Aaron O'Donovan 0-6 (5 frees, 1 '65'), John Chawke 1-0 (penalty), Rodger Ryan, Keel Moloney 0-2 each, Luke Guinane, Callum Callaghan, Cathal Downes. TULLA: Seán McNamara 0-6 (5 frees), Jack McSweeney 1-2, Dan Ryan 0-2, Cathal Cullum, Shane Hunt 0-1 each.

KILDIMO-PALLASKENRY: John Chawke; Séamus Stokes, Evan Considine, Ciarán Downes; Callum Callaghan, Kevin O'Connell, Gary Sheehan; Marc O'Shea, Luke Guinane; Keel Moloney, Cathal Downes, Conor McMahon; Rodger Ryan, Adam Butler, Aaron O'Donovan. SUBS: Dylan Corrigan for Adam Butler (half-time), Kieran O'Brien for Keel Moloney (50 minutes), Dylan Moloney for Luke Guinane (57 minutes).

TULLA: Aaron Shanahan; Eugene Cooney, John Fahy, Seán Clune; Rian McMahon, Seán Torpey, Alan Leamy; Dan Ryan, Cathal Culloo; Evan Corbett, Shane Hunt, Ben Kelleher; Finn Boyce, Matthew Nolan, Seán McNamara. SUBS: Bryan Lynch for Alan Leamy (42 minutes), Jack McSweeney for Evan Corbett (44 minutes), Micheál Hayes for Dan Ryan (49 minutes), Brian Fahy for Matthew Nolan (53 minutes).

REFEREE: Canice Walsh (Cork).