Newcastle West see off great rivals Fr Casey's to claim Limerick U19 Premier football title

“IT'S been a few years since we won a minor premier so we're delighted to get this, especially with nothing between us all the way up through the age groups,” was manager Roger Hayes's reaction to Newcastle West's 1-10 to 1-8 victory over great rivals Father Caseys in the county under-19 premier decider in Athea on Tuesday evening.

There's no greater greater rivalry across all grades of Limerick football than that between the two biggest towns west of the Maigue and this latest clash faithfully followed the template by mixing the patient with the explosive before the winners emerged from the share of the game's only two goals with a lead that they held to the final whistle.

The question for most of the intense, stop-start hour was whether Newcastle's ball-winning abilities up the middle, built on the man-of-the-match contribution of Emmet Rigter, would overcome Abbeyfeale's shape at the back and speed on the break.

There was nothing to separate the sides until the closing minutes when top scorer Ronan Quirke was dismissed and this denied the losers of the firepower necessary to strike back and gave the winners the reassurance to close out the result.

Like their adult teams of their clubs, both sides took it cagey from the throw-in before Seán Geraghty broke the ice for Newcastle but that was met by Quirke getting Caseys off the mark.

Using their size to dominate primary possession in the middle third but struggled to get through the Abbeyfeale half-back line before their pressure began to draw the fouls and went ahead again off Rigter's '45' and free.

Although seeing less of the ball, the Fealesiders were able to inject more pace into their attacks and, while Quirke's point on the turn was met by one from Oisín Collins' free, they replied through Liam O'Connor, Quirke's equalising free and his next one that put them ahead. Coming up to the break, the Magpies drew the foul down at the other end, the free was brought in for dissent and Collins sent it over to tie the up the score at 0-5 apiece.

Quirke's free put the Fealesiders back in front on the restart, but the solidity of their defence took a blow when Calum Boyle went off injured and they fell behind when Collins struck back off a free and Rigter followed up with a strike on the run up the left wing.

But the pace of the Newcastle attacks dropped again and Caseys took advantage to equalise with Quirke's free for an off-the ball foul before turning the game on its head when a flying move up the centre around Oisín Woulfe's defence-splitting solo saw Marc Nolan racing onto the lay-off to hammer past the stranded Ashton Neville.

The Magipe response stumbled on a few missed chances, but the winners gained pace when Rigter punished a free and became real when Cathal Hayes's quick free, just minutes after his introduction, found Diarmuid Lyons to whip to the net on the run.

Then, after Rigter moved the gap to two points by sending over another free, Abbeyfeale's night turned from bad to worse when Quirke took the long lonely walk after picking up a second yellow.

Although they tried to respond as the Magpies settled for containment, the extra man facing them closed off their ability to find a finisher with the yard of space ahead of him. A breakaway attack saw Richter's move his side a point further into the comfort zone before Caseys, seeking the equalising goal, finished the game with skipper Michael Kilbridge blazing just over the crossbar off a quick free.

SCORERS: NEWCASTLE WEST: Emmet Rigter 0-6 (4 frees, 1 '45'), Oisín Collins 0-3 (3 frees), Diarmuid Lyons 1-0, Seán Geraghty 0-1; FATHER CASEYS: Ronan Quirke 0-6 (4 frees), Marc Nolan (1-0), Liam O'Connor, Michael Kilbridge 0-1 each.

NEWCASTLE WEST: Ashton Neville; Patrick Noonan, John Whelan, Kieran O'Connell; James Lyons, Arron Neville, Diarmuid Lyons; Emmet Rigter, Seán Torley; Con Hayes, Seán Geraghty, Andrew Lyons; Arron Mullane, Oisín Collins, Ronan O'Sullivan. SUBS: John O'Grady for James Lyons (half-time), Cathal Hayes for Arron Mullane (43 minutes), Reece Daly for Seán Geraghty (injured, 48 minutes).

FATHER CASEYS: Matthew O'Connor; Calum O'Connor, Cathal Woulfe, Kalum Foley; Calum Boyle, Michael Kilbridge, Tim Lyons; Oisín Woulfe, Culann Quigley; Dylan O'Connor, Marc Nolan, Liam O'Connor; Adam Murphy, Ronan Quirke, Dylan Quirke. SUBS: Danny McCarthy for Calum Boyle (injured, 34 minutes), Jamie Dore for Adam Murphy (40 minutes), Ronan O'Connell for Dylan Murphy (59 minutes).

REFEREE: Mike Browne (Dromcollogher-Broadford).