South Liberties edge past the 'Rockies in Limerick SHC

SOUTH Liberties put themselves in pole position, not only of qualifying for the county senior hurling quarter-finals, but also of returning the Group One of the championship next season as they notched up their third Group Two victory out of three over Blackrock by the narrowest of margins, 0-23 to 0-22, in Cappamore on Saturday evening.

Keeping their focus despite relentless pressure, they trailed for only two minutes during the first half as the free-taking and general contribution of Barry Nash from play just about prevailed over the unerring accuracy of Paudie Leahy from the placed ball.

It was gut-wrenching outcome for the Ballyhoura club who tried everything possible to avoid a third successive defeat in this year's championship and the very real danger of relegation to premier intermediate, made even worse by bursting a gut to claw themselves back to level terms just minutes from time.

But that superhuman effort came at the price of losing club and county legend Richie McCarthy to injury. Liberties led 0-13 to 0-9 at half-time. The sides were level late on when Brian Ryan and skipper Eoghan Godfrey put Liberties two in front, while the Rockies replied with a point from Paudie Leahy.

SCORERS: SOUTH LIBERTIES: Barry Nash 0-10 (6 frees), Barry Cooney 0-3, Tom Ryan, Brian Garry 0-2 each, Ken Byrnes, David O'Neill, John Hickey, Conor McSweeney, Brian Ryan, Eoghan Godfrey 0-1 each; BLACKROCK: Paudie Leahy 0-13 (11 frees). Seán O'Neill 0-4, Marty Farrell, Kevin Palmer, Ruairí O'Shaughnessy, Colm O'Keeffe, David Moloney 0-1 each.