Rathkeale beat champions Mungret to seal Limerick knockout place

RATHKEALE spoiled Mungret St Pauls’ flawless group campaign after a commanding 0-15 to 1-9 victory in their Group 2 final round of the Irish Wire Products Senior Football Championship in Adare.

The victory puts Rathkeale into the quarter-finals with a second placed finish in the group behind Mungret and sets up a knockout clash with Monaleen.

The 2024 Intermediate Football Champions saw Andrew White top score for them with an impressive 0-5, four of which came from play.

The contest was almost six minutes old when the first successful attempt at goal landed from the right boot of Darragh Bridgeman for Mungret.

A Darragh O’Sullivan free doubled Mungret’s advantage before Mikey Morrissey settled Rathkeale into the tie with a well worked score.

A patient attack from Rathkeale resulted in Josh O’Connor finding plenty of space to slot over before a deep delivery into Shane Barry allowed him to spin back onto his left side to put Mungret back in front after 13 minutes.

A probing run by Morrissey set up Andrew White for his first point before a subsequent effort from Morrissey rebounded off the posts and into the hands of White who decided to square the ball to Patrick Wilmott instead of pulling the trigger.

Wilmott’s palmed effort was ultimately tipped over by Ronan McElligott in the Mungret goal.

A determined run from Barry Coleman yielded a fisted score before Andrew Meade mazed his way inside and outside his marker to create room to slot over.

White tapped over his second and suddenly Rathkeale had rattled off five scores without reply in the space of 17 minutes.

Mungret eventually found James Killian in a pocket of space to end their opening half scoring drought and reduce the deficit to three at the break with Rathkeale leading 0-7 to 0-4.

O’Sullivan pointed a close-range effort within a minute of the restart for Mungret but a superb Tommy Dillane two-pointer gave Rathkeale breathing space once again.

White followed up with another routine score while Meade again displayed some brilliant feet to put Rathkeale six ahead in the 37th minute.

Substitute Conor Ó Longaigh popped over a much-needed score for Mungret before Morrissey followed up with a big swinging score off his right.

White then popped up yet again with what felt like an insurance score for Rathkeale with less than six minutes of normal time remaining.

To their credit, Mungret did muster up some late momentum. Oisin Moss and O’Sullivan both hit the target before James Killian netted a consolation goal deep into added time.

Despite shaving the lead back to just three, Rathkeale were always comfortable in the latter stages to seal their place in the knockout stages with a three-point winning margin.

SCORERS - RATHKEALE: Andrew White 0-5 (1f), Mikey Morrissey, Andrew Meade 0-3 each, Tommy Dillane 0-2, Barry Coleman, Josh O’Connor, Patrick Wilmott 0-1 each; MUNGRET ST PAULS: Darragh O’Sullivan 0-4 (3f), James Killian 1-1, Darragh Bridgeman, Shane Barry, Oisin Moss, Conor Ó Longaigh 0-1 each.

RATHKEALE: Keith Hartnett; Michael Sheahan, Bryan Meade, Paudie Mulcaire; Adam Shanagher, Jack Hennessey, Dean Maune; Tommy Dillane, Barry Coleman; Josh O’Connor, Eoin O’Donnell, Mikey Morrissey; Andrew Meade, Andrew White, Patrick Wilmott; Subs: Fintan McNamara for Shanagher (42 mins, inj), Seamus Keating for Maune (53 mins), Cian Shorten for O’Donnell (58 mins).

MUNGRET ST PAULS: Ronan McElligott; Jason Hassett, Robert Hegarty, Colin Rochford; James Garvey, Oisin Moss, Frank Corcoran; Jack Somers, Jack McCarthy; Diarmuid Hynes, Darragh O’Sullivan, James Killian; Darragh Bridgeman, Shane Barry, Jack Dervan; Subs: Conor Ó Longaigh for Barry (h-t, Ciaran Uwatse for Garvey (h-t), Matt O’Sullivan for Somers (42 mins), Brendan Giltenane for Hynes, Tom Lloyd for Dervan (59 mins).

Referee: Kieran Guina (Feohanagh–Castlemahon).