Mark Foley relishes Adare knock-out return in Limerick Senior Hurling Championship

MARK Foley feels Adare have have made massive progress this year making the knock-out stages of the Whitebox Limerick Senior Hurling Championship.Adare narrowly avoided relegation when finishing in fifth place in group two of the Limerick SHC last year, but Adare have bounced back impressively to finish in second place of group two this year.

This Sunday, Adare face Ballybrown in a Limerick Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final.

“It's massive progress because at the start of the year we probably would have been one of the favourites for relegation. I'm absolutely delighted that we are through, it is probably bonus territory for us as far as we are concerned,” Adare senior hurling manager Mark Foley said.

Adare suffered an opening round defeat to Monaleen and played out a draw with Mungret St Paul's. Since round two, the West Limerick side has recorded three victories in-a-row over Dromin-Athlacca, Kildimo-Pallaskenry and Newcastle West.

“It's great after a bad start that we really knuckled down and got three wins in-a-row.We have a bit of confidence that we are able to win games and win games probably playing poorly but it is probably a good sign of a team.”

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Foley replaced Louis Mulqueen to take over the reins at his native club this year. He is assisted by Shane Fitzgibbon and Timmy Houlihan on his backroom team.This is Adare's first time playing in the knock-out stages of the Limerick SHC since 2021. Adare produced a late comeback against Newcastle West, with a penalty from John Fitzgibbon deep in injury time seeing Mark Foley's side edge past their opponents 2-17 to 1-18.

“It's a long time since we have been in knock-out hurling, a performance like that (against Newcastle West) and there is only going to be one result because it is a going to be a step up.”

Former Limerick captain Declan Hannon limped off with an ankle injury in the second half during Adare's final round victory over Necwastle West.

“And on top of that, we have seemed to pick up a good few injuries, so it looks like Declan (Hannon) could be out for next week and Mark Connolly went over on his knee they'll have to go away and get scans.

“It's going deep into our panel but we have been there before and we will definitely have to better in terms of our performance. That won't be good enough,” added Foley.

Patrick Kearney, Darragh Gleeson and Conor Ryan are some of the youngsters who have the made step up to senior hurling for Adare this year.

Ronan Connolly, Jody Hannon, Declan Hannon, Joe Sweeney and John Fitzgibbon have all had consistent performances for the 2009 county champions during the 2025 Whitebox Limerick senior hurling championship.

“It is a quick turnaround, but it is the same for all the teams involved. It's a lot easier to recover from things when you are still in the competition. There is a decent bit of confidence going into the next game.”