Ballybrown and Monaleen play out entertaining Limerick SHC draw
The draw moves both teams onto three points in Group 1 and they go level with Doon ahead of the final game
BALLYBROWN and Monlaeen remain in the hunt for a quarter-final spot in the Whitebox Limerick Senior Hurling Championship following a 0-20 to 0-20 draw in their Group 1 Round 4 contest in Claughaun on Saturday evening.
Bobby Smith’s point in added time looked to have snatched the victory for Ballybrown only for Mark O’Dwyer’s free to level the game up for a 13th time.
Andrew Cliffe had another chance for Ballybrown at the death but his shot went agonisingly wide. The draw sees both sides onto three points, alongside Doon, with one group game remaining.
A Shane Hassett free opened the scoring on 40 seconds with a sublime Barry Adams sideline quickly levelling the scores.
Mark O’Dwyer soon had Monaleen back in front but they were pegged back via Killian Gavin’s first free of what was a tight contest throughout.
Two Hassett placed balls gave Monaleen a bit of breathing space, however, strikes from Mikey Kiely and Gavin squared the game once again.
Donnacha Ó Dálaigh finished with 0-6 from play to his name with his opener coming on 13 minutes to put Monaleen in the ascendancy.
Ballybrown levelled through a Gavin free and hit the front for the first time with an excellent score from distance by James Coughlan.
Hassett and Dara Ferland swung the game in Monaleen’s favour yet again with consecutive points and further efforts from Ó Dálaigh and Hassett again saw them lead 0-9 to 0-6 in the 22nd minute.
However, it wasn’t to be a lead that would last as two Kiely points from play and a Barry Adams free saw the game level for a sixth time.
Monaleen twice led again with Hassett and Ó Dálaigh on target but Gavin and Ross Kenny squared it again, before another Gavin free gave Ballybrown a 0-12 to 0-11 half time advantage.
Scores from Ó Dálaigh and Hassett swung the game in Monaleen’s favour in the early stages of the second half with O’Dwyer stretching their lead to two with a fine point from play.
However, Leigh Doolan and Colin Coughlan hit back for Ballybrown to level the contest at 0-14 each with 40 minutes of the game played.
Josh Adams and Andrew La Touche Cosgrave traded scores before Luke O’Connor fired over two points to give Ballybrown a two-point lead.
A sideline from O’Dwyer gave Monaleen a boost on 52 minutes and the game was levelled for an 11th time moments later when Lorcan Lyons and Hassett combined for Ó Dálaigh to finish off a brilliant move.
O’Dwyer then fired over for Monaleen to go in front again only for Cliffe to level with a free with his first touch after being sprung from the bench.
Then Smith did the same within seconds of coming on with what looked to be the winning score, only for O’Dwyer’s free ensuring the game finished level at the death.
SCORERS - BALLYBROWN: Killian Gavin 0-5 (5f), Mikey Kiely and Luke O’Connor 0-3 each, Barry Adams (1f, 1 s/l) 0-2, James Coughlan, Ross Kenny, Leigh Doolan, Colin Coughlan, Josh Adams, Andrew Cliffe (1f) and Bobby Smith 0-1 each; MONALEEN: Shane Hassett 0-7 (5f), Donnacha Ó Dálaigh 0-6, Mark O’Dwyer 0-4 (1f, 1 s/l), Andrew La Touche Cosgrave 0-2, Dara Ferland 0-1.
BALLYBROWN: Josh O’Reilly; James Coughlan, David Hartnett, Keith Punch; Colin Coughlan, Josh Adams, Jamie Behan; Killian Gavin, Mikey Kiely; Ross Kenny, Leigh Doolan, Luke O’Connor; Mikey Gavin, Bryan Griffin, Barry Adams; Subs: Ross Griffin for M Gavin (47 mins), Andrew Cliffe for B Griffin (55 mins), Bobby Smith for Doolan (59 mins).
MONALEEN: Jamie Power; Matthew Fitzgerald, Bryan Canny, Noel Clancy; Darragh Langan, Lorcan Lyons, Ronan Lyons; Lochlann McHale, Eoghan O’Driscoll; Joe Fitzgerald, Mark O’Dwyer, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh; Luke Murphy, Dara Ferland, Shane Hassett; Subs: Andrew La Touche Cosgrave for Murphy (41 mins), Ben Hayes for Hassett (53 mins).
Referee: Kieran Guina (Feohanagh-Castlemahon).