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

DOON produced an impressive performance to defeat Patrickswell 3-23 to 0-14 in round two of the Whitebox Limerick Senior Hurling Championship in Kimallock on Thursday evening.

Chris and Gareth Thomas were in fine scoring form hitting 1-9 between them for the victors. Doon displayed a ruthless edge in front of goal, with their quality of hurling and intelligent use of the ball proving particularly impressive in the south Limerick venue. 

Patrickswell will now need to regroup in their remaining three group games if they are to progress to the knockout stages of the senior hurling championship.

Patrickswell suffered a defeat to Kilmallock, while Doon were held by Na Piarsaigh in round one. The sides met last year in the Limerick SHC semi-finals last year when Doon got the better of Patrickswell. Doon have lost just once against Patrickswell in the last ten meetings before this evening's clash. 

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It was Patrickswell who started brightly after 14 minutes leading 0-6 to 0-4 after some good work by John Murray, Aaron Gillane, Mark Carmody and Kevin O'Brien. Two frees from Adam English along with scores from Richie English and Gareth Thomas kept Doon within touching distance. 

In the next ten minutes, Doon took control of this contest outscoring their opponents 1-7 to 0-1. 

Donal Coughlan, Gareth Thomas, Pat Ryan and Adam English were all on target  during this dominant spell for east Limerick side. On 21 minutes, Darragh O'Donovan set up Chris Thomas for the opening goal of the evening when the Doon wing back cleverly slotted the sliotar past Patrickswell goalkeeper Jason Gillane as Derek McGrath's side were now 1-11 to 0-7 clear on 25 minutes. 

Patrickswell sharpshooter Aaron Gillane and Doon's Adam English traded scores in the closing stages of the first half. In injury time, Darragh O'Donovan nailed his first point as Doon were 1-14 to 0-9 in front at the break. 

Gareth Thomas continued his fine scoring form after half-time and he registered his fourth point of the evening to push the winners 1-15 to 0-9 ahead. 

However, Declan O'Grady's charges regrouped through Diarmaid Byrnes, Aaron Gillane and Jack Kelleher to cut the gap to six points. 

Patrickswell could only manage to get this contest back to six points as Gareth Thomas went on to score three points, while his brother Chris landed two points which put Doon leading by ten points 1-20 to 0-13.

Donal Coughlan and Adam English sealed an emphatic 18-point win for Doon over Patrickswell. Meanwhile, Patrickswell's only score in the final quarter came from an effort courtesy of Jordan Higgins, capping off a tough evening for the city-based side.

SCORERS: 

DOON: Chris Thomas 1-2, Adam English (0-7, 0-5 frees, 0-1 65), Gareth Thomas 0-7, Kevin Maher and Pat Ryan 1-1 each, Donal Coughlan 0-3, Richie English and Darragh O'Donovan 0-1 each

PATRICKSWELL: Aaron Gillane (0-5, 0-4 frees), John Murray 0-2, Diarmaid Byrnes (0-3, 0-3 frees), Jordan Higgins, Jack Kelleher, Kevin O'Brien and Mark Carmody 0-1 each

Doon: Darragh Stapleton; Mikey O'Brien, Tommy Hayes, Cian O’Donovan; Chris Thomas, Barry Murphy, Richie English; Darragh O’Donovan,Adam English; Jack Ryan; Gareth Thomas, Eddie Stokes; Donal Coughlan, Kevin Maher, Pat Ryan.

SUBS: Eoin Fitzgibbon for Tommy Hayes (31 minutes), Cormac Ryan for O'Brien (54 minutes), Aidan O'Connell for Richie English (56 minutes), Dean Coleman for Coughlan (56 minutes).

PATRICKSWELL: Jason Gillane; Kelvin Lynch, Nigel Foley, Eoin Harmon; Diarmaid Byrnes, Evan Fitzgerald, John Murray, Cian Fitzgerald, Jordan Higgins; Jack Kelleher, Cian Lynch, Kevin O'Brien; Patrick Kirby, Aaron Gillane, Mark Carmody. 

SUBS: Thomas O'Brien for O'Brien (37 minutes), Liam Fitzgerald for Carmody (45 minutes), Hughie Maher for Kirby (54 minutes, injury). 

REFEREE: Michael Sexton (Bruree)