Croagh-Kilfinny see off Glenroe in Limerick premier intermediate hurling championship

“THAT was a nerve-wracking ending,” admitted Croagh-Kilfinny manager James Hall as his premier intermediate hurlers made it four wins out of five in their qualifying group after they got the better of Glenroe 1-16 to 1-13 in an action-packed clash in Bruff on Friday evening.

“We were beginning to look comfortable when they came back with us with that goal and then they kept running at us right to the finish.”

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Croagh-Kilfinny's victory leaves them sharing the top of the table with Garryspillanve and almost guarantees their qualification for the Lyons of Limerick county semi-finals while their opponents are still stuck in a fierce battle to avoid relegation over the final two rounds.

Depite the furious finish, this was a game Croagh-Kilfinny should have put to bed even before Glenroe got the chance to recover.

Dominating possession and with enough speed and strength across the lines to open up the spaces in the opposing defence, the winners would have led by far more than 10 points, eight minutes after the break.

But 13 wides by that point left their opponents still in with a chance and, once they got the boost of a goal, they piled forward with an intensity that stretched every attempt by their opponents to resist them.

Glenroe started with a bang as Darren Frewen pointed a free within seconds. However, Croagh-Kilfinny replied with a rocket as two quick passes from the resulting puck-out found Cian O'Carroll to bury in the net from close range.

After David McCarthy came up from his goals to reply from a free from deep inside his own half, Croagh-Kilfinny grabbed initiative around the middle for scores from John Wall, Andrew Meade, O'Carroll, free, and Conor Lenihan's long drive to open up a lead of substance before their radar went on the blink.

After four wides in a row, they were punished by a long Brian O'Connell reply.

Still dominating the exchanges around the middle, Croagh-Kilfinny had more luck from placed balls as O'Carroll put a pair of them over to stretch their advantage to six points going into the second quarter.

However, they were still struggling to reflect their share of possession on the scoreboard, giving the Ballyhoura side the chance to reply through points via Frewen, from play, and McCarthy, from another monster free, before their opponents found their range again through scores from an O'Carroll free and from play.

Coming up to the break, Glenroe had a golden opportunity to eat into the gap, but Adam Frewen's shot was stopped on the line by Dave Lynch. Glenroe had to settle for Darren Frewen pointing a free that reduced the Croagh-Kilfinny lead to 1-8 to 0-6 at the break.

Croagh-Kilfinny coninued with the wides on the restart, but mixed in enough scores through O'Carroll, Meade and O'Carroll's free to look as if they had finally grabbed the game by the neck.

However, Glenroe weren't in the mood to lie down, bouncing back with Frewen's pointed free. A long clearance from Glenroe found Ciaran Kelly who danced past the challenge going into the square and hammered to the net.

Jack Lenihan and Jordan Sheehy then swapped scores around the three-quarter mark and this was followed by a free exchange between O'Carroll and McCarthy.

Croagh-Kilfinny continued to keep their opponents at arm's length going into the closing straight. Seamie Lenihan's point edged them a step further towards safety, but Glenroe were now running every scrap of possession straight into the jaws of the opposition and found a second wind when they drew a pair of fouls for Frewen to punish.

O'Carroll replied with one of his own at the other end only for Frewen to convert another pair and reduce the margin to two points with two regulation minutes to go. 

However, attempts to bridge the gap were withstood in the furious closing exchanges, Croagh-Kilfinny sallied from the siege to earn a free for O'Carroll to send over.

However, there was still enough time for an equalising goal as McCarthy had a 20-metre free blocked on the line and then saw blue jerseys throw themselves across the goalmouth to stop anyone connecting with his lobbed '65' before Liam O'Sullivan deflated the bedlam as his final whistle rang out.

SCORERS: CROAGH-KILFINNY: Cian O'Carroll 1-10 (0-8 frees), Andrew Meade 0-2, John Wall, Conor Lenihan, Jack Lenihan, Seamie Lenihan 0-1 each; GLENROE: Darren Frewen 0-9 (8 frees), David McCarthy 0-3 (3 frees), Ciarán Kelly 1-0, Jordan Sheehy 0-1.

CROAGH-KILFINNY: Dave Lynch; Denis Lenihan, Aidan O'Shea, Eoin Barry; Tom McMahon, Barry Lenihan, Conor Lenihan; Nessan Leahy, Séamie Lenihan; Andrew Meade, Bryan Flynn, James Lanigan; John Wall, Cian O'Carroll, Séamus O'Carroll. SUBS: Jack Lenihan for Séamus O'Carroll (42 minutes), Owen Dee for Conor Lenihan (48 minutes), Brian Hannon for Nessan Leahy (49 minutes).

GLENROE: David McCarthy; Shane O'Donoghue, Patrick Holian, Darren Carroll; Seán O'Donnell, Stephen Walsh, Jordan Sheehy; Daniel Murphy, Brian O'Connell; Ciarán Kelly, Darren Frewen, Liam Dennehy; Adam Frewen, Oisín Browne, Dáithí Dennehy. SUBS: Mark O'Connell for Oisín Browne (38 minutes), Cillian O'Brien for Adam Frewen (47 minutes).

REFEREE: Liam O'Sullivan (Claughaun).