Na Piarsaigh (Limerick) 3-22 Clonoulty/Rossmore (Tipperary) 0-13
Na Piarsaigh strolled to a landslide 18-point win in the Munster club hurling semi-final at the Gaelic Grounds to maintain a12 from 12 winning sequence in the provincial championship.
Tipperary’s Clonoulty/Rossmore must still be wondering what hit them as Na Piarsaigh swept into a 0-6 to 0-1 lead inside 10 minutes.
A couple of points by Paudie White and frees by Timmy Hammersley had the Tipperary champions in touch but points by Adrian Breen, Ronan Lynch and Shane Dowling pushed Na Piarsaigh into a 0-10 to 0-3 and there was an exchange of points before the reigning provincial champions put the game to bed in the 10 minutes before half-time, by which stage they led 2-13 to 0-5.
Na Piarsaigh's first goal was a stunner by Kevin Downes after 24 minutes and just on the whistle Peter Casey had a spectacular strike after Downes gave him a handpass as he slipped.
Limerick star Casey got his second and Na Piarsaigh’s third goal three minutes into the second half but in fairness to the Tipperary champions – they won their first county title for 21 years a week ago – they hit four points in a row but even at that stage it made no difference.
Declan O’Dwyer in the Clonouty/Rossmore goal made two superb saves, one as early as the second minute, but those in front of him were given a roasting by the Na Piarsaigh forwards, while Adrian Breen hit six points from play for the runaway winners who had nine players on the scoresheet.
NA PIARSAIGH: P Kennedy; J Boylan, M Casey, K Kennedy; R Lynch (0-3, one free), W O'Donoughue, C King; A Dempsey (0-1), G Brown; D Dempsey (0-1), S Dowling (0-5, five frees), C Boylan (0-1); A Breen 0-6, K Downes (1-1, one free), P Casey 2-2.
Subs: C Houlihan for Dowling (inj, 28 mins), K Ryan for P Casey (36), M Foley for Lynch (inj, 43), T Grimes (0-2) for A Dempsey (46), J O'Brien for King (53), P Gleeson for Kennedy (inj 60).
CLONOULTY/ROSSSMORE: D O'Dwyer; Joey O'Keeffe, C Quirke, J Ryan; S O'Connor, John O'Keeffe, E Heffernan; C Hammersley (0-1), James Heffernan; P White (0-2), D Quirke (0-1, s/l), Tom Butler, C Bourke (0-1), T Hammersley (0-8, five frees), F O'Keeffe.
Subs: Thomas Butler for F O'Keeffe (h/t), Ronan Heffernan for J Heffernan (36), N Shanahan for Joey O'Keeffe (51), Paddy Ryan for Tom Butler (54), Donncha Quirke for Ryan (57).
Referee: D Kirwan (Cork).
