Clinical Mungret-St Paul's cruise to Limerick Junior A football final success

“AN UNBELIEVABLE weekend for the club,” was chairman Donal Fitzgibbon's delighted reaction as Mungret- St Paul's second string footballers emulated the success of their intermediate team the afternoon before by capturing the county junior A title with an emphatic 2-16 to 0-7 Woodlands House Hotel County Junior A Football Championship final victory over Camogie Rovers on Sunday.

Coupled with their premier junior A hurlers winning county honours the previous weekend and their senior hurlers gaining promotion to the elite Group One of next year's championship, Mungret-St Paul's progression has led to an unprecedented trophy haul in Limerick club competition but, according to the former County Board chairman, this was no overnight success.

“The effort was put in at underage, a huge contribution over the past decade from every member of the club,” Donal Fitzgibbon added.

Dominating midfield where Darragh O'Sullivan won the lion's share of primary possession, Mungret-St Paul's always had the platform to dominate the play and, with ten-point hotshot Luke Walsh leading the attack, they had the finishing power to extract the most from it.

The winners physical advantage gave them the upper hand early on and, despite playing into the breeze, got off the mark with points from Conor Galvin and Walsh. Mungret-St Paul's then stamped their authority when David Bridgeman collected off Galvin to drill the ball to the far corner of the net.

A move off the resulting kick-out ended with Christopher Crotty getting Camogue off the mark but any relief it gave them disappeared when the Raheen club sent the ball back down through the lines for O'Sullivan to find Galvin who whacked home goal number two.

However, their intensity eased back a notch after that, giving Camogue Rovers time to settle and they kept in touch as Anthony Neylon's pointed '45 was replied to by Walsh and his free was overtaken by Walsh and Martin Gallagher points to leave Mungret ahead by four.

However, their fortunes changed when they started to pressure the City team's kick-out and three turnovers led to Ross O'Brien-May, Crotty and skipper Anthony Punch narrowing the deficit to 2-6 to 0-7 at the break.

The South Limerick side pushed themselves forward again on the restart but failed to open up enough space within the zone to edge themselves closer and, once the tight Mungret defensive formation had worn them down, Galvin pointed off the break from the back.

Tightening the screw, points from Walsh's free, Gallagher and Walsh from play had the lead up to nine points by the three-quarter mark.

That was to be Camogue's last hurrah. Both sides emptied the benches, Mungret-St Paul's subs grabbed the opportunity to impress and, with the breeze rising, the rain coming down and the stretched Meanus defence running out of gas, points from Galvin, from Walsh from play (2), and from a free moved the lead into double figures before the ageless Breandán Ó hAnnaigh who had been introduced as a substitute grabbed the game's final score.

SCORERS: MUNGRET: Luke Walsh 0-10 (0-2 frees), Conor Galvin 1-2, David Bridgeman 1-0, Martin Gallagher 0-2, Conor Garvey, Breandán Ó hAnnaigh 0-1 each; CAMOGUE ROVERS: Christopher Crotty (1 free), Anthony Neylon (1 free, 1 '45') 0-2 each, Ross O'Brien-May, Anthony Punch 0-1 each.

MUNGRET-ST PAUL'S: Darragh Coffey; Conor White, Dave O'Riordan, Stephen Dilworth; David Guilfoyle, Jason Hassett, Martin Gallagher; Darragh O'Sullivan, Cian O'Doherty; Colin Rochford, David Bridgeman, Conor Galvin; Liam Moran, JJ Harrington, Luke Walsh. SUBS: Eoin O'Doherty for JJ Harrington (41 minutes), Matt O'Sullivan for Colin Rochford (45 minutes), Seán Moran for David Guilfoyle (48 minutes), Breandán Ó hAnnaigh for Conor Galvin (53 minutes), Conor Garvey for Liam Moran (57 minutes).

CAMOGUE ROVERS: Mark Cronin; Timmy Sullivan, Brendan O'Donnell, Paudie Mulcahy; Daniel Clifford, Thomas O'Donnell, Finn Clancy; Peadar McCarthy, James Meany; Patsy Punch, Michael O'Donnell, Anthony Neylan; Christopher Crotty, Ross O'Brien May; Anthony Punch. SUBS: Adam Lyons for Timmy Sullivan (20 minutes), John Bateman for Daniel Clifford (39 minutes), Shane Lyons for Brendan O'Donnell (45 minutes), Stephen O'Donnell for Ross O'Brien May (48 minutes), John Anthony Thomas for Peadar McCarthy (53 minutes).

REFEREE: Kieran Flannery (Monaleen).