Na Piarsaigh Crush the dream

Na Piarsaigh   1-13    Crusheen   0-9
With the sides level for the fourth time and less than 10 minutes remaining, extra time looked a distinct possibility when Na Piarsaigh from Limerick and Crusheen clashed in the Munster Senior Club Hurling Championship final replay at Semple Stadium on Sunday.
Indeed, another draw must have flashed through some minds and as, according to notification sent out last week, a second replay was scheduled for this Saturday. Such an outcome would, no doubt, have led to hurried discussions between Crusheen officials and the Munster Council, as Crusheen midfielder Pat Vaughan is due to be married this Saturday.
A storming last 10 minutes from the Limerick champions put paid to any need for talks though. In that time, they hit 1-4 without reply to claim their first provincial title and leave Crusheen thinking about what might have been.
Na Piarsaigh were the dominant team in that final period and deservingly lifted the Munster title but a seven-point margin is a little hard on Crusheen, who played their part in what was a very entertaining contest played an official attendance of 2, 486, a drop of 400 from the drawn game seven days earlier.
Things seemed to be going Crusheen’s way when they went three points clear at the end of the third quarter. Ahead by a point at half-time, Crusheen were put under enormous pressure in the early minutes of the second half and were fortunate not to have found themselves behind. Shane Dowling missed from a free before Shane O’Neill somehow shot wide with only goalkeeper Donal Tuohy to beat.
After these let-offs, Crusheen hit three excellent points through Jamie Fitzgibbon (2) and Pat Vaughan and things looked to be going their way. However, Na Piarsaigh never panicked and, as they had done in the drawn game, they came storming back to dominate the closing 10 minutes.
Both sides showed one change in personnel to their starting line-ups. Tony Meaney started at midfield for Crusheen in place of Joe Meaney, while Na Piarsaigh’s decision to include David Lynch from the start in place of Adrian Breen led to a number of positional switches. Lynch came in at corner-back with Cathal King moving to midfield, where he had made such an impact in the second half of the drawn game.
Adrian Breen, the player who was omitted, made, arguably, the greatest impact on this match. Introduced three minutes before the break for student teacher Pat Gleeson, things didn’t start well for him as he was guilty of a very bad miss early in the second half.
Thirteen minutes from the end, his point from the left wing started his side’s fightback and he sealed a memorable day when hitting 1-2 in the final three minutes. The goal came two minutes from the final whistle and stretched his side’s advantage to five points, killing any hopes of a Crusheen rally.
Na Piarsaigh’s determination to win this title was evident from the outset and by the third minute they had collected three yellow cards with Brian Hartnett, David Breen and Kevin Downes all booked by match official Cathal McAllister.
The game was eight minutes old before Kevin Downes opened the scoring with a fine point. Midfielder Tony Meaney replied for Crusheen before Downes hit another followed by a like score from Kevin Ryan as the new Munster champions went two clear.
Similar to last week however, Crusheen fought back and points from a Pat Vaughan free and one from Jamie Fitzgibbon had the teams level at the turn of the second quarter.
Two minutes later Crusheen had what appeared to be legitimate claims for a penalty turned down as Fergus Kennedy went down under pressure from David Lynch. A 65 resulted but Pat Vaughan’s effort  failed to find the target.
Points from Fitzgibbon and David Forde pushed the Clare champions two clear but a Cathal King effort brought it back to the minimum, which was the position at half-time when Crusheen led 0-5 to 0-4.
Shane Dowling missed from a 50m free in front of goal at the start of the second half but David Breen was on target and the sides were tied at 0-5 each three minutes into the new period. Shane O’Neill’s goal miss followed in the fifth minute before Crusheen enjoyed a great spell during which Jamie Fitzgibbon pointed twice, with Pat Vaughan sending over one in between to put the Clare champions three clear as the end of the third quarter approached.
Dowling finally got off the mark a minute from the end of the third quarter but this was quickly cancelled out by a Pat Vaughan effort from a 50m free a minute into the final quarter. It was to be Crusheen’s last score as, from here on, there really was only one team in the contest.
Adrian Breen and two from Dowling (one free and one 65’) levelled the game with 10 minutes to go. A superb block by Ciaran O’Doherty denied David Breen a score as Na Piarsaigh grew more dominant by the minute.
Seven minutes from time Kieran Kennedy put the Limerick champions in front and David Breen quickly doubled their advantage.
Crusheen tried everything in the next few minutes to get back on terms but the momentum was with Na Piarsaigh and when Adrian Breen goaled two minutes from the end of normal time, there was no way back for the Clare side.
Once again, the Crusheen defence worked very hard throughout with Cronan Dillon and Alan Brigdale particularly prominent. The forward line, however, struggled apart from Jamie Fitzgibbon, who scored four superb points.
For the second week in succession the ability of centre-back James O’Brien to win possession was a huge help to the winners while full-back Kieran Breen was outstanding throughout. Cathal King got through a lot of good work at midfield and substitute Adrian Breen had a storming last quarter at corner-forward.
After the game, Munster Council vice-chairman Robert Frost presented the O’Neill Cup to the Na Piarsaigh captain Kieran Bermingham.

Na Piarsaigh: Padraic Kennedy; David Lynch, Kieran Breen, Kieran Bermingham (capt); Brian Hartnett, James O’Brien, Alan Dempsey; David Breen, Cathal King; Shane Dowling, Pat Gleeson, Kevin Ryan; Shane O’Neill, Kevin Downes, Kieran Kennedy.
Subs: Adrian Breen for Gleeson (27 minutes); Aidan Hennessy for Bermingham (39 minutes); John Madden for O’Neill (48 minutes).
Scorers: Adrian Breen (1-3); Shane Dowling (0-3, 2f, 1 65); David Breen, Kevin Downes (0-2 each) Kevn Ryan, Cathal King, Kieran Kennedy (0-1 each).
Frees for: 6; Wides: 13; 65s: 1
Bookings: Brian Hartnett (one minute); Kevin Downes (two minutes); David Breen (three minutes).
Crusheen: Donal Tuohy; John Brigdale, Cronan Dillon, Alan Brigdale; Ciaran O’Doherty, Cian Dillon, Cathal Dillon; Pat Vaughan, Tony Meaney; Gearóid O’Donnell, Jamie Fitzgibbon; David Forde; Patrick Meaney, Gerry O’Grady (capt) Fergus Kennedy.
Subs: Conor O’Donnell for Forde (inj, 46 minutes); Joe Meaney for T Meaney (51 minutes).
Scorers: Jamie Fitzgibbon (0-4), Pat Vaughan (0-3, 2 f); Tony Meaney, David Forde (0-1 each).
Frees for: 5; Wides: 7; 65s: 1
Referee: Cathal McAllister, Cork