Monaleen maintain 100% Limerick Senior Hurling Championship record with win over Dromin-Athlacca

MONALEEN hurlers made it two wins out of two when they got the better of Dromin-Athlacca, 1-21 to 1-16 in group two of the Whitebox Limerick Senior Hurling Championship this Friday evening in sunny Fedamore.

A first half that went according to form saw the Castletroy club use their greater variety of finishing options to go into the dressing-room with a six point lead but failed to move on after the restart when they shot 12 of their 19 wides and were caught for enough fouls to create a Dromin-Athlacca revival.

However, when push came to shove after a late goal brought the gap back to two, the winners found a late burst of energy and accuracy that got them over the line.

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The losers' chances weren't helped by the loss of county senior panellist Cian Scully to a knee injury early in the second half but, despite putting in a game effort and carrying the fight way beyond what most teams would settle for, they just couldn't compensate for a lack of penetration up front. Once again, they were driven to the limits by the inspirational leadership of David Reidy but his majestic contribution just wasn't enough when they could manage only three points of their total from play.

Although Eoghan O'Driscoll's opener within seconds was immediately answered by Reidy, Monaleen were putting more passes together to get into the scoring zone and eased into a handy lead of three on the back of a pair of Matthew Fitzgerald frees either side of Donnacha Ó Dálaigh's strike from the right corner. Another Reidy free broke the sequence but Monaleen attacks continued to draw the fouls as Fitzgerald punished one before skipper Luke Murphy struck under pressure and then turned over the puckout to move the advantage out to five.

Coming up to the quarter mark, the Castletroy side's radar began to wobble, allowing David Griffin and a monster Reidy free to strike back but, after an exchange between Andrew La Touche Cosgrave and Tadhg Boddy, they briefly got back in the groove as La Touche Cosgrave and Ó Dálaigh found the target. Attacking up the centre, Athlacca drew a foul for Reidy to punish which he followed up with another from deep inside his his own half but the City side stepped on the gas again coming up to the break, finding the posts through a Fitzgerald free and Murphy and, after Reidy's reply tacking on a pair from Dara Ferland and Ó Dálaigh to give them a half-time lead of 0-14m to 0-8.

Reidy's free opened the second half and he struck another after O'Driscoll's reply but the Dromin-Athlacca club's hopes of building a recovery took a heavy blow when Scully was forced to depart. Daragh Langan replied from a long free but Monaleen then shot a series of wides going into the final quarter as Athlacca's forwards were drawing a pair of fouls for Boddy to punish.

However, after shaving the gap back to four, their momentum suddenly ground to a halt when a long Monaleen pot shot was batted down on the goal line only for La Touch Cosgrave to react first and whack to the net. But the south Limerick team weren't giving up, running at their opponents to induce the indiscretion and, after Boddy converting one free and Reidy another, the game was back in the melting pot two minutes from the end of regulation time when Reidy drilled his next free, despite it being at an angle, through the ranks of defence and into the far corner of Jamie Power's goals.

Back to within two, Dromin-Athlacca were surfing the momentum but Monaleen suddenly rediscovered the art of scoring and eased the pressure with points from Joe Fitzgerald and Ó Dálaigh. Reidy's free brought the margin back to a goal but the city club replied straight from the puckout that was collected by Ferland and Ronan Lyons then collected the Athlacca puckout to send it back over the posts. When Fitzgerald added another point, the gap was too great and the time was too late and Reidy settled for the point with his last free of the game.

SCORERS: MONALEEN: Andrew La Touche Cosgrave 1-2, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Matthew Fitzgerald (4 frees) 0-4 each, Luke Murphy 0-3, Eoghan O'Driscoll, Dara Ferland, Joe Fitzgerald 0-2 each, Dara Langan (free), Ronan Lyons 0-1 each. DROMIN-ATHLACCA: David Reidy 1-11 (1-10 frees), Tadhg Boddy 0-4 (3 frees), David Griffin 0-1.

MONALEEN: Jamie Power; Simon Griffin, Bryan Canny, Noel Clancy; Ronan Lyons, Darragh Langan, Lorcan Lyons; Joe Fitzgerald, Lochlan McHale; Luke Murphy, Eoghan O'Driscoll, Andrew La Touche Cosgrave; Dara Ferland, Matthew Fitzgerald, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh. SUBS: Eoghan Maher for Eoghan O'Driscoll (50mins), Marcus Southern for Simon Griffin (57 mins).

DROMIN-ATHLACCA: Robbie Breen; Shane Scully, Michael Reidy, William Dore; Shane Fitzgibbon, David Reidy, Daniel Scully; Cian Scully, David Griffin; Patrick O'Donoghue, Seanie O'Leary, Tadhg Boddy; Jack Fitzgibbon, David Breen, Seán Morrissey. SUBS: Mike Quaid for Cian Scully, inj (37mins), Shane Rabbit for Seán Morrissey (52mins).

REFEREE: Liam Berkery (Ahane).