Crucial wins for Oola and Na Piarsaigh in Limerick SFC round four fixtures

THERE were crucial wins for Oola in Group 1 and Na Piarsaigh in Group 2 in the fourth round of the Irish Wire Products Limerick senior football championship on Saturday evening.

Oola edged the battle of the two bottom-placed sides in Group 1 of the championship when edging past Claughaun 1-11 to 2-7 in an incident-packed game at Casherconlish.

Meanwhile, in Group 2, Na Piarsaigh picked up their second win of the campaign when edging past Galtee Gaels 2-10 to 0-13 in Hospital.

Oola's win leaves them on two points in the table, while Claughaun are propping it up after four defeats in the round robin phase of the championship.

The outlook looked bright for the city side when, despite playing into a stiff breeze, they led their East Limerick opponents 1-4 to 0-2 after 23 minutes. The Claughaun goal came courtesy of a Tadhg Bennett penalty in the 10th minute.

Oola then hauled themselves right back into the contest when Dubhan O'Grady blasted high into the roof of the net following good build-up play involving John Bourke and Raymond Ryan.

The see-saw nature of the game continued coming up to half-time as Cian Graham powered through the middle of the Oola defence before unleashing a piledriver to the back of the net to help Claughaun into a 2-4 to 1-4 half-time lead.

Despite being backed by the elements after the restart, Claughaun managed to add just three more points to their tally. 

In contrast, Oola played their best football of the game while facing into the breeze. The reliable Jack Downey kicked over six second half points, including five frees, to edge Oola to victory as both sides had players dismissed in the second period.

Meanwhile, Na Piarsaigh joined third-placed Ballysteen on four points going into the final round of group fixtures after seeing off Galtee Gaels in Hospital. 

Na Piarsaigh survived a late scare to seal a second victory in the Limerick SFC, as a powerful third quarter helped them over the line. 

Trailing 0-5 to 0-4 at half time, the Caherdavin side outscored the Gaels 2-6 to just a point in the third quarter. The goals from John Moloney and Gordon Brown looked to be enough to seal the win. 

But seven Gaels points, including six from Bob Childs, pulled them to within a goal. Tommie Childs had the ball in the net with the last act, but was adjudged to have been in the square.