Limerick champions Ballybrown celebrate Munster club junior B hurling final win

“THAT was one tough game,” was manager Dave Flaherty's reaction after Ballybrown won the Munster junior B hurling competition after holding out against a late Silvermines rally to record a 0-18 to 0-15 victory in Killeedy on Saturday.

“Typical winter hurling, you never know what to expect and we could well be meeting in the All-Ireland final.”

Following on the success of their neighbours Kildimo-Pallaskenry in 2025, the result keeps the Michael Fitzmaurice Memorial Cup in Limerick for another year.

Flaherty's charges will be hoping to reproduce their first-quarter form in which they created a gap that their Tipp rivals could never bridge as they look forward to their next assignment against Leinster runners-up Saint Rynagh's, of Offaly, in their upcoming national semi-final.

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Despite some nerve-jangling minutes right at the death when they had to call on a flamboyant goal-line save to keep their opponents at bay, the Clarina club were full value for a success that was built on a solid defence and their ability to get the scores when needed.

With both sides taking their time to adjust to the surface conditions of recent heavy rain compounded by the first growth of spring, Ballybrown opened the scoring through Paul O'Neill.

However, after Seán Spillane's point in reply, Ben Adams and Andrew Cliffe put them two ahead. Orrie Quirke's long point from midfield pulled one back for the Tipp club but, improving their finishing after a few wides, points from Ethan Keyes, Cliffe's '65' after David Shanahan had stopped his goalbound pull on the line, followed by another score from a Cliffe free and O'Neill had the gap out to four points by the quarter mark.

Ronan Cunneen's pointed free shaved one back for Silvermines. Ballybrown's radar went on the blink and they sent another four chances wide of the target before Cunneen reduced the gap further with a point from play.

However, the Limerick club settled themselves with a long pointed free from Cliffe, although that was immediately met by a score from Gerard Leamy.

Coming up to the half-time break, however, they re-exerted their authority after an exchange between Mark Doolan and Cunneen's free was followed by points from Doolan and Ciffie's free swhich sent the Limerick champions into the dressing-room with a lead of 0-11 to 0-6.

An all-out restart from the Premier club saw Quirke point within seconds of the throw-in. However, following Leamy replying to Cliffe's accurate free, the Clarina side re-asserted their shape with back-to-back points from Cliffe and Seán Healy.

Ballybrown could have stretched their advantage further had one of their flailing hurleys connected after a long shot stuck in the small square after coming back off the upright.

Making the most of their escape, Silvermines upped the intensity and, dominating the puckout, were back on track going into the final quarter with two Cunneen pointed frees either side side of Brian Leamy's first-time strike off a handpass.

A rare missed free broke the momentum, leaving Keyes to collect off the resulting puckout to splite the posts. The same player repeated the dose after Cunneen found the target with his next placed ball.

When Cliffe and Peter O'Rourke followed up with further scores for a lead of six points with five regulation minutes to go, it looked like job done for Ballybrown .

However, getting the most out of the fresh legs up front, Silvermines gave it one least heave, as Quirke pointed, Conor O'Neill brought off a point-blank save off Niall Curran's rasper for Cunneen to convert the '65' and then followed up with a free.

However, despite throwing the kitchen sink at their opponents, the 'Mines failed to draw any closer in five edge-of-seat minutes of added time.

SCORERS: BALLYBROWN: Andrew Cliffe 0-9 (4 frees, 1 '65'), Ethan Keyes 0-3, Paul O'Neill 0-2, Barry O'Connor, Mark Doolan, Seán Hanly, Peter O'Rourke 0-1 each; SILVERMINES: Ronan Cunneen 0-8 (6 frees, 1 '65'), Orrie Quirke 0-3, Gerard Leamy 0-2, Seán Spillane, Brian Leamy 0-1 each.

BALLYBROWN: Conor O'Neill, Mark sheehan, Luke Doran, Peter Kiely; James Bohan, Kevin Foster, Lee O'Reilly; Seán Hanly, Peter O'Rourke; PaulO'Neill, Ben Adams, Ethan Keyes; Barry O'Connor, Andrew Cliffe, Mark Doolan. SUBS: Rob O'Brien for Ben Adams (40 minutes), James Smith for Mark Doolan (57 minutes), Niall Quane for Ethan Keyes for (injured, 62 minutes).

SILVERMINES: David Shanahan; Ben Claffey, Eddie Ryan, Seán Ryan Prendiville; Seán Murphy, Cathal Gleeson, Tiernan Flynn; Patrick Steed, Orrie Quirke; Eoin Seymour, William Keogh, Ciarán Timmons; Ronan Cunneen, Gerard Leamy, Seán Spillane. SUBS: Niall Curran for William Keogh (half-time), Brian Leamy for Ciarán Timmons (half-time), Daniel Keogh for Gerard Leamy (44 minutes).

REFEREE: Ciarán Murphy (Cork).