Mungret St Paul's see off Dromin-Athlacca but miss out on Limerick senior hurling quarter-finals

MUNGRET St Paul’s comfortably saw off Dromin-Athlacca in their final group game of the Whitebox Limerick Senior Hurling Championship on a scoreline of 1-21 to 1-15 in Bruff on Saturday.

However sweet that victory may have been, it ultimately wasn’t enough for Mungret-St Paul's secure a place in the knockout phase of the championship as other results dictated their fate.

Needing a win to at least uphold their side of the bargain, Mungret St Paul's shot into an early lead thanks to Niall Mulcahy after a brilliant run from Brian O’Meara seared through the Dromin- Athlacca defence. Tadhg Boddy replied with a free before Mulcahy added his second inside the opening two minutes.

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Boddy then struck from play before David Reidy put Dromin-Athlacca in front through a long-range free. Back came the city side and Mark O’Brien slotted a pair of quickfire scores for Mungret as they regained the lead after 11 minutes of action.

David Griffin and David Reidy then brought the sides back level with a pair of brilliant individual efforts. A Mike Reidy point was
the only outlier in an otherwise faultless scoring period from Mungret St Paul's with Brian O’Meara and Barry Duff shooting over before O’Brien let loose again with another quick brace after 25 minutes.

Boddy and his Mungret counterpart  Lynch then traded frees to close out the opening half with Mungret St Pauls leading 0-12 to 0-9 at the change of ends.

The city side quickly built on their half-time lead through scores from Barry Duff and Fintan Fitzgerald. David Reidy did reply with a score from a 'dead' ball for Dromin-Athlacca, before Lynch contined to find the target with his own free-taking endeavors.

Boddy then broke away from pressure to salvage a badly needed score for Dromin-Athlacca before O’Meara and substitute Seanie O’Leary traded scores.

Duff then floated a brilliant effort from near the left hand side-line before a hat-trick of scores from Liam Lynch extended Mungret St Paul’s lead to seven points after 52 minutes of action.

Five minutes later, Duff fetched his own side's puck-out and surged through a tiring Dromin-Athlacca defence before blasting his shot to the top left corner of the net. The goal extended Mungret St Paul'’s lead out to a comfortable ten points with just three minutes of normal time remaining.

Mungret St Paul's goalkeeper Conor O’Brien was called to action on a few occasions in the closing minutes as Dromin-Athlacca raided the goal-mouth at every beckoning moment.

A 21-yard free provided David Reidy with the platform to thunder a shot to the top of the net. However, Reidy’s magnificent effort was in vain as Mungret St. Pauls emerged as comfortable six point victors.

SCORERS: Mungret St Paul's: Liam Lynch 0-8 (0-7 frees), Barry Duff 1-3, Mark O’Brien 0-5, Niall Mulcahy, Brian O’Meara 0-2 each, Fintan Fitzgerald 0-1 (0-1 free). Dromin-Athlacca: David Reidy 1-6 (1-5 frees), Tadhg Boddy 0-6 (0-4 frees), David Griffin, Mike Reidy, Seanie O’Leary 0-1 each

MUNGRET ST PAUL'S: Conor O’Brien, Jack McCarthy, Matt O’Sullivan, Liam Harrington, Billy Molyneaux, Fintan Fitzgerald, Eoin O’Doherty, Cian Moloney, Barry Duff, Brendan Giltenane, Brian O’Meara, Niall Mulcahy, Conor O’Halloran, Liam Lynch, Mark O Brien. SUBS: Sean Duff for Cian Moloney (42 mins), Cian O’Brien for Brendan Giltenane (52 mins),
Michael Mullins for Mark O’Brien (57 mins).

DROMIN-ATHLACCA: Robbie Breen, Shane Scully, William Dore, Sean Morrissey, Shane Fitzgibbon, Daniel Scully, Peter Ryan, Mike Reidy, David Reidy, David Breen, Patrick O’Donoghue, Tadhg Boddy, Davy Mullins, David Griffin, Mike Quaid. SUBS: Seanie O’Leary for Peter Ryan (half-time), Cian Walsh for Mike Quaid (42 mins), John Paul Costello for Patrick O’Donoghue (44 mins), Shane Rabbitt for Davy Mullins (50 mins).

REFEREE: Liam O'Sullivan