Limerick champions Ballybrown celebrate All-Ireland Junior 'B' hurling series final victory

LIMERICK'S Ballybrown completed a perfect 2025/2026 campaign as they collected the All-Ireland Junior B title, defeating Tommy Larkins, of Galway, by five points, 0-14 to 1-6, at Killeedy’s home ground in Raheenagh on Sunday afternoon.

The Clarina outfit have progressed unbeaten through the Limerick City and County Championship’s domestically, as well as the Munster and All-Ireland series since the turn of the calendar year.

It was a front-running victory for Dave Flaherty’s young charges, who were jointed captained by Kevin Foster and Seán Healy. Indeed, few could argue with the result, though the Galway outfit did find a late surge which required the intervention of Conor O’Neill to halt their hunt for more than the single David Hickey goal.

Ballybrown led 0-7 to 0-3 by the half-way point, with Andrew Cliffe and the outstanding Barry O’Connor key to their cause. In defence, Mark Sheehan set the tone, as they starved the Larkins inside line of openings, especially in the inside line.

Only Shane O’Grady would register from play for the Woodford club in the first forty minutes. Eoin Fahy, with two frees, accounted for their other scores but Ethan Keyes, Mark Doolan and Barry O’Connor had split the posts at the other end.

The three points at the start of the second half were the winning of the game. Cliffe, with one from a free and another from play, used all his experience and quality, before O’Connor, a minor in 2018 with Limerick, added his third.

Lee O’Reilly, Sheehan and later Conor O’Neill, made key interventions for Ballybrown with a late surge from ‘Tommies’ setting up a nervy finish. Ten wides for Ballybrown didn't cost them on a windswept afternoon in west Limerick.

Sub David Hickey had a telling impact, notching 1-2 in the final quarter, but his goal, on 58 minutes still left four points between the sides. Conor O’Neill was beaten by a 20m free, but the former Limerick U20 netminder got his hurley to two more piledrivers to deny a most unlikely comeback.

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Ballybrown would hit the final score, with Cliffe converting a free from forty meters. It sets them up for a push at the 2026 Limerick Junior ‘A’ Championship, with a squad that overall filled with younger players.

Manager Dave Flaherty summed up the mood in the winning camp, “Incredible, incredible. We hadn’t really thought about this until last week. We had two very disappointing years, and credit to the lads and indeed the lads running those teams, they were just so unlucky. We got the rub of the green”.

The Kildare native, who has called Clarina home for some time, was quick to acknowledge the Galway side. “When you play in a final, you know a team is going to be of the same stature as you. They probably missed a few frees which may have cost them. We knew how they’d attack and we moved our lads around accordingly.

It is a first All-Ireland title for the club at any level, who also have Munster titles at Senior Hurling and Junior B hurling and football to go with a raft of domestic honours.

SCORERS: Ballybrown: Andrew Cliffe 0-8 (5f); Barry O’Connor 0-3; Rob O’Brien, Ethan Keyes, Mark Doolan 0-1 each. Tommy Larkins: David Hickey 1-2 (1-1 frees); Eoin Fahy 0-2 (both frees); Shane O’Grady, Adam Page 0-1.

BALLYBROWN: Conor O’Neill; Mark Sheehan, Luke Doran, Peter Kiely; Jamie Behan, Kevin Foster (JC), Lee O’Reilly; Seán Healy (JC), Peter O’Rourke; Paul O’Neill, Rob O’Biren, Ethan Keyes; Mark Doolan, Andrew Cliffe, Barry O’Connor. Subs: James Smith for O’Brien (55); Alex Smith for Healy (57).

TOMMY LARKINS: David Flynn, Evan Madden, Shane Kelly (C), John Larkin; Shane Whyte, Jack Sheil, Gearoid Hanley; Eoin Forde, Adam Page; Jamie O’Donnell, Joe Deveran, Eoin Fahy; Kevin Hooban, Shane O’Grady, Donal Keane. Subs: David Hickey for Fahy (40); Ryan Daniels for O’Donnell (44); Barry Tierney for Hooban (48); Jack Donohue for D Keane (60).