Five-star Adare power to win over Garryspillane in Limerick SHC

ADARE shot to the top of the Whitebox Limerick Senior Hurling Championship Group 2 table with a resounding 5-23 to 1-14 victory over Garryspillane on Saturday afternoon.

Lining out without five-time All-Ireland winning captain Declan Hannon, Adare cruised to victory with goals from John Fitzgibbon (2), Patrick Kearney (2) and Brendan O’Connor.

The Bouncers had Limerick panelists John English and Hugh Flanagan in their attack but were unable to stop this ruthless display.

The south Limerick men were without Callum and Ciaran Sheehan who were both suspended having been sent off in their Munster club defeat to Tallow last November.

In this Group 2, where the margin for error is razor-thin, the margin of victory was a significant one - and could be important when all is said and done in the group.

Adare were nearly in for an early goal when Willie Griffin’s effort blasted off the hit post in the third minute. The lively corner forward’s blazing run opened up the space but his side had to wait to get off the mark.

Patrick Kearney did break their duck after four minutes, he caught Brian Curtin’s puck out and supplied the finish.

This came sandwiched between two Hugh Flanagan frees as Garryspillane were sharper in the opening exchanges.

But Adare were still dangerous and had a second major goal chance in the first 10 minutes.

Brendan O’Connor was through on goal after turning his marker, but his tame effort was easily dealt with by Bouncer ‘keeper Adam Sheehan.

Three minutes later, O’Connor did put the ball into the back of the net, finishing off a nice move with Kearney and Griffin.

This livened the game up a bit. Adare had Sean Connolly, Griffin, Shane Gleeson and Ronan Connolly added points in the next 10 minutes.

The radar began to let them down later in the half however, eight first half wides a frustration for manager Mark Foley.

But the Bouncers were able to stem the flow and wrangle back some momentum.

A pair of Bryan Heavey points kept the scoreboard flowing before they got a goal of their own. Cian Ryan danced past three defenders before a cool finish reduced the gap to just two.

Just as the south Limerick men were on top approaching the half time break, they were hit by a sucker punch of a goal. Ronan Connolly’s clearance was caught by Griffin - who again was the provider - this time John Fitzgibbon provided the finish to give his side a 2-11 to 1-7 interval lead.

While Flanagan’s sixth free opened the second half scoring, Adare hit the next four on the bounce. Griffin, Ronan Connolly and O’Connor all added to their personal tallies as they settled well after the half time break.

The pressure from here was relentless.

They piled on the points and Kearney added a third goal, blasting hard from close range to put Foley’s side 3-19 to 1-10 up.

Two minutes later, Kearney had a second major - making no mismake on the rebound from David O’Mahony’s initial effort which was saved by Adam Sheehan.

They added a fifth goal when Fitzgibbon slotted home a penalty after Griffin was fouled as they eased to victory.

SCORERS - Adare: John Fitzgibbon 2-5 (1-0 pen, 2f); Patrick Kearney 2-3; Willie Griffin 0-6 (3f); Brendan O’Connor 1-2; Ronan Connolly and Darragh Gleeson 0-2 each; Sean Connolly and Shane Gleeson 0-1 each.

Garryspillane: Hugh Flanagan 0-9 (9f); Cian Ryan 1-0; Bryan Heavey 0-3; John English 0-2.

ADARE: Brian Curtin; James Gahan, Joe Sweeney, Conor Ryan; John McSweeney, Wayne McNamara, Darragh Gleeson; David O’Mahony, Ronan Connolly; Shane Gleeson, John Fitzgibbon, Sean Connolly; Willie Griffin, Brendan O'Connor, Patrick Kearney.

Subs: Jack Doran for John McSweeney (49 mins); Charlie McCarthy for Willie Griffin (52 mins).

GARRYSPILLANE: Adam Sheehan; James O’Sullivan, Robert Sampson, Ryan Tobin; Declan Heavey, Dylan O'Shea, Eoin O’Mahony; Jamie Morrissey, Josh Dineen; Bryan Heavey, John English, Colin Ryan; Cian Ryan, Hugh Flanagan, Peter Morrissey.

Subs: Shane Ryan for Josh Dineen (42 mins); Tiernan Ryan for Peter Morrissey (42 mins).

REFEREE: John O’Halloran (Bruree).