Na Piarsaigh score convincing win over Ballybrown in Limerick Senior Hurling Championship

NA Piarsaigh got their Whitebox Limerick Senior Hurling Championship campaign up and running with a convincing 0-21 to 1-10 win over Ballybrown in Claughaun this Friday evening.

The Caherdavin side led by six following the advantage of a strong breeze and matched that performance after the break to earn their first win of the championship season in this round two tie.

Ballybrown never got anywhere near the same level as they did in their opening day victory over Ahane with Aidan O’Connor notching 1-9 of their total.

READ MORE: Doon cruise past Patrickswell in round two of Limerick Senior Hurling Championship

Na Piarsaigh had star performances all over the park with Vince Harrington, Emmett McEvoy and Ronan Lynch excelling in defence, Will O’Donoghue in midfield, while Kevin Downes, Keith Dempsey, JJ Carey and Daithi Dempsey were a threat throughout. 

Downes opened the scoring with a straightforward free inside two minutes and it was immediately followed by a long range placed ball from Lynch.

Davy Hall got the first score from play in the game for Ballybrown but that was soon cancelled out by JJ Carey’s first of three points in the opening half. 

Lynch and Carey then followed up to see Na Piarsaigh 0-5 to 0-1 clear with just seven minutes on the clock.

Na Piarsaigh were then denied a goal following a last-ditch Ned Quinn goal-line clearance following a Daithi Dempsey strike. 

Carey soon had the lead at five, however, with O’Connor ending a stretch of seven minutes without a score for Ballybrown.

Keith Dempsey and Downes had the score at 0-8 to 0-2 by the 15 minute mark with O’Connor landing two frees in reply for Ballybrown either side of Mike Foley’s effort from distance. 

Keith Dempsey and Downes hit the target again just before the break but O’Connor saw the score at 0-11 to 0-5 at the break with his fourth of the opening half.

O’Connor got the scoring underway in the first minute of the second half but Ballybrown continued to score from play and were completely reliant on their Limerick star.

Two from Adrian Breen and one from Downes saw Na Piarsaigh score three before Ballybrown scored again through O’Connor.

Cian Hedderman then denied Keith Dempsey and Na Piarsiagh a certain goal from close range with a superb save that flashed over the bar with Lynch following up again from distance. 

Lynch repeated the trick to stretch their advantage to 10 heading into the final quarter with the score now standing at 0-17 to 0-7.

There was only one winner from there with O’Connor’s late goal being small consolation for a Ballybrown side that were well beaten on the night.  

SCORERS: NA PIARSAIGH: Kevin Downes 0-8 (6frees), Ronan Lynch 0-4 (4frees), JJ Carey and Keith Dempsey 0-3 each, Adrian Breen 0-2, Mike Foley 0-1; BALLYBROWN: Aidan O’Connor 1-9 (0-8 frees, 0-1 ’65), Davy Hall 0-1.

NA PIARSAIGH: Shane Dowling; Emmet McEvoy, Cathall King, Vince Harrington; Mike Foley, Ronan Lynch, Tommy Grimes; James Finn, William O’Donoghue; JJ Carey, Daithi Dempsey, Keith Dempsey; Kevin Downes, Will Henn, Adrian Breen. SUBS: Sean Long for King (h-t), Wayne Kearns for James Finn (43mins), Dylan Lynch for Will Henn (51mins).

BALLYBROWN: Cian Hedderman; Ned Quinn, Colin Coughlan, Keith Punch; Mikey Gavin, Josh Adams, James Coughlan; Kenny Power, Ross Griffin; Leigh Doolan, Aidan O’Connor, Ross Kenny; Barry Adams, Bryan Griffin, Davy Hall. SUBS: Mikey Kiely for Davy Hall (39mins), David Hartnett for Kenny Power (54mins), Bobby Smyth for Leigh Doolan (55mins).

REFEREE: Eamon Stapleton (Doon).