Limerick SHC final: Doon 0-16 Na Piarsaigh 2-9
Doon have dethroned county kingpins Na Piarsaigh to win the first Limerick senior hurling title in the club’s 136-year history thanks to a hard-fought one-point win at a rain-soaked Gaelic Grounds on Sunday evening.
In a game that saw Limerick star Peter Casey return to the field for the first time since suffering a horrific leg break against Tipperary in April, it was Doon, backed by a superb man-of-the-match performance from Adam English, who scored 0-11 of his side’s 0-16 return, that edged out Na Piarsaigh in front of an attendance of 7,612.
The result means Doon put a halt to Na Piarsaigh’s bid for three in-a-row as they also sought to win their seventh Limerick SHC title in 10 years.
After an exciting game of hurling, despite being played in difficult conditions, the John Daly Cup makes the 40-kilometre trip back to East Limerick for the first time with Doon now facing Waterford champions Ballygunner in the Munster quarter-final in Limerick next Sunday.
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As expected, it was eight-time Limerick champions Na Piarsaigh that started the brightest but after Conor Boylan opened the scoring inside two minutes, Doon showed signs of things to come with three points in response, all courtesy of English, to make it 0-3 to 0-1.
With just five minutes on the clock, Na Piarsaigh cornerback Vince Harrington denied Darragh Stapleton a certain goal with a superb last-second block as the Doon corner forward bore down on goal.
However, two goals in the space of a minute had Na Piarsaigh five points ahead by the 16th minute – the first coming after a superb link-up play between David Dempsey and Adrian Breen, the latter raising the green flag for the game’s opening goal.
Less than a minute later, Dempsey turned from creator to goalscorer with a slick shot from an impossible-looking angle to put five between the sides, 2-2 to 0-3.
Doon responded well, however, with English and Darragh Stapleton collectively adding five points without response to make it a one-point game at half-time – 2-3 to 0-8 in favour of Na Piarsaigh.
The sides were level twice more after the interval, and when English put his side ahead for only the second time by slotting over his ninth score of the evening, it looked like it was Doon’s game to lose.
From here, Doon opened up a three-point lead with Brian Murphy, Pat Ryan and Gareth Thomas getting in on the scoring action.
Casey made his comeback, replacing Will Henn in the 43rd minute before going on to score a point as his side fought to narrow Doon’s three-point lead in the final quarter.
A late Dylan Lynch point levelled the scores once more, but English rounded off an outstanding display to score the winning point with a well-taken free under pressure as stoppage time fast approached.
As Doon captain Darragh O’Donovan raised the John Daly Cup, he told the thousands of supporters on the pitch that the club’s “day has come”.
It certainly has, putting a halt to Na Piarsaigh’s run of eight Limerick SHC titles since the city club won their first senior title 13 years ago.
DOON: T Lynch; E Fitzgibbon, T Hayes, C O’Donovan; C Thomas, B Murphy (0-1), R English; D O’Donovan (0-1), P Ryan (0-1); G Thomas (0-1), A English (0-11, 0-7fs, 0-1 65), E Stokes; J Ryan, K Maher, D Stapleton (0-1).
Subs: C Ryan for Thomas (37 mins), M O’Brien for Stapleton (51), P Cummins for C O’Donovan (59).
NA PIARSAIGH: S Dowling (0-2, 0-2f); V Harrington, M Casey, E McEvoy; M Foley (0-1), W O’Donoghue, J Boylan; R Lynch (0-2, 0-2f), T Grimes; J Carey (0-1), W Henn, C Boylan (0-1); D Dempsey (1-0), K Downes, A Breen (1-0).
Subs: P Casey (0-1) for Henn (43 mins), D Lynch (0-1) for Breen (51), K Dempsey for Downes (60).
Referee: J O’Halloran (Bruree).
