Na Piarsaigh defeat Glenroe in opening game of the 2023 Limerick club hurling championship

JUST four days after All-Ireland success in Croke Park, Limerick GAA attention switched to the 2023 club hurling championship this Thursday evening.

Across five tiers of club hurling championship action, the opening fixture pitted 2022 intermediate champions Na Piarsaigh against Glenroe in the County Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship.

In Hospital a final quarter flourish saw the Caherdavin men edge to a 1-20 to 1-17 victory.

The fixture saw Limerick sub-goalkeeper David McCarthy make a quick turnaround from Liam MacCarthy Cup celebrations to line-out with his native Glenroe.

However, his winning run didn't continue as it was Na Piarsaigh's second string that made a winning start to life in the second tier of Limerick club hurling.

Substitute David Sheppard banged home Na Piarsaigh's only goal to go with a pair of points that gave his side victory.

However, it wasn't the outcome that looked on at the break.

The Caherdavin club's second string gave every appearance of struggling at this higher level of competition when their south Limerick opponents clinically built up a nine-point lead. 

However, it proved to be an illusion.

With Pat Gleeson finishing every one of the limited number of chances coming his way, the city team managed to prevent the margin disappearing beyond the possibility of contact and, once they had the breeze blowing straight up the field to road end goals at their back, fortunes turned around completely in the second half before they finally took the lead for the first time with two regulation minutes to go.

Maybe Glenroe might have held out had Sheppard not plummeted down on their defence just when it looked like they might have weathered the storm but, once they conceded the initiative by conceding six rapid-fire points right on the restart, they were always in danger of being reeled in.

Glenroe showed they meant business right from the throw-in as Mark O'Connell's free and Oisín Browne had them two to the good in as many minutes and, with their inside forwards winning every ball coming in to them, another O'Connell free put them further ahead before Gleeson got Na Piarsaigh off the mark.

Its significance was quickly erased when Eoin Walsh was pulled down bearing in on goals and, after Darren McCarthy buried the penalty, Ciarán Kelly and O'Connell's '65' stretched the gap to seven.

Na Piarsaigh had a few chances to reply but the radar was off and even the frees were drifting wide but, Walsh's free and Kelly added to Glenroe's advantage, they struck back with John Fitzgerald's pot from way out left. Kelly managed an immediate reply but the Caherdavin club had tightened up at the back and were getting the deliveries into their forwards and a Gleeson free, Marcus Hogan and Gleeson from play gave them their first dart of momentum on the scoreboard.

But it didn't last. Walsh, Kelly, Walsh again and Liam Dennehy all found the target before Gleeson's reply narrowed the city team's half-time deficit to 1-12 to 0-6.

That late score proved to be a portent as it slingshot the debutantes into a blistering restart, rattling off a score a minute through Gleeson's free, half-time sub James Finn, another Gleeson free, Wayne Kearns, Hogan and Gleeson's free had them breathing down the Ballyhoura side's necks before Browne's reply on the run broke the sequence and restored the margin to four.

But it was only temporary relief as the Na Piarsiagh engine continued to purr along with Evan Sweeney pointing and Gleeson punishing a pair of fouls.

Going into the final quarter, Glenroe finally found a response through Walsh's free, Brian O'Connell and Mark O'Connell's free but they needed David McCarthy's save off Fitzgerald to keep their noses in front and, after he followed up with an even more spectacular block on the line, the dyke burst when Sheppard, with his first taste of action, caught high, battered through the challenge and found the far corner of the net.

O'Connell sent over a free at the other end to put two between the sides but the tide was now pouring down on the Glenroe posts as Sheppard collected the puckout to point, Gleeson equalised off a free before then shooting his side into the lead for the first time and, with no sign of the effort flagging in the six added minutes, another Gleeson free and Sheppard ended the scoring.

SCORERS: Na Piarsaigh: Pat Gleeson 0-12 (9 frees), David Sheppard 1-2, Marcus Hogan 0-2, John Fitzgerald, James Finn, Wayne Kearns, Evan Sweeney 0-1 each; Glenroe: Mark O'Connell (4 frees, 1 '65'), Eoin Walsh (3 frees) 0-5 each, Darren McCarthy 1-0 (penalty) Ciarán Kelly 0-3, Oisín Browne 0-2, Wayne Kearns, Brian O'Connell 0-1 each.

NA PIARSAIGH: Evan Condon; Pádraig Heaney, Gearóid Synott, Conor Richardson; Mark O'Connor, James O'Brien, Vince Harrington; Dean McLaughlin, Wayne Kearns; JJ Carey, Pat Gleeson, John Fitzgerald; Dylan Lynch, Evan Sweeney, Marcus Hogan. SUBS: James Finn for JJ Carey (half-time), David Sheppard for Dylan Lynch (51 minutes).

GLENROE: David McCarthy; Padraig McGrath, Patrick McSweeney, Shane O'Donoghue; Seán Clancy, Darren McCarthy, Shaun Moloney; Brian O'Connell, Liam Dennehy; Oisín Browne, Mark O'Connell, Eoin O'Mahony; Ciarán Kelly, Stephen Walsh, Eoin Walsh. SUBS: Martin Frewen for Shaun Moloney (41 minutes), Moss O'Brien for Stephen Walsh (54 minutes), Darren Frewen for Ciarán Walsh (58 minutes), Stephen Walsh for Patrick McSweeney (58 minutes), Darren Carroll for Stephen Walsh (injured, 61 minutes).

REFEREE: Éamonn Stapleton (Doon).