In the Limerick Senior Hurling Championship final, Doon clinched their first title in their club’s 136-year history, defeating reigning champions Na Piarsaigh in a gruelling match at the Gaelic Grounds on a wet Sunday evening.
Doon, buoyed by an impressive play from Adam English, who contributed 0-11 to his team’s total score of 0-16, eked out a one-point victory before a crowd of 7,612. This result halted Na Piarsaigh’s pursuit of a third consecutive championship and their seventh in the past decade.
Following a thrilling match, played under challenging weather conditions, the coveted John Daly Cup was transported 40 kilometres to East Limerick, marking its first ever journey to Doon. The new county champions are now set to challenge the Waterford winners, Ballygunner, in the Munster quarter-final next week in Limerick.
Although hot favourites and eight-time champions Na Piarsaigh initially took the lead with Conor Boylan’s goal, Doon fired back with three successive points credited to English.
In a dramatic twist, within 16 minutes, Na Piarsaigh surged ahead by five points, courtesy of two rapid-fire goals. The first goal resulted from an impressive teamwork between David Dempsey and Adrian Breen, with the latter ultimately finding the back of the net. Barely a minute after, Dempsey himself made a successful strike from a tricky angle to maintain the lead, leaving the scoreline at 2-2 to 0-3.
In a closely contested match, Doon effectively countered their opponents, with teammates English and Darragh Stapleton jointly obtaining five unopposed points to close the gap to just one by half-time; the score stood at 2-3 to 0-8, favouring Na Piarsaigh. The teams reached a stalemate twice following the break; however, English took the lead for the second instance by securing his ninth point of the game, causing it to seem like the match was under Doon’s control.
Subsequently, Doon extended their lead by three points, with Brian Murphy, Pat Ryan, and Gareth Thomas making contributions to the scoreline. Casey made a successful return, replacing Will Henn in the 43rd minute and even managing to score a point, as his team attempted to decrease Doon’s three-point lead in the final quarter.
A last-minute point by Dylan Lynch resulted in tied scores once again. In spite of this, English concluded an impressive performance by scoring the decisive point with an expertly executed pressure shot, just before the match entered added time.
Doon’s captain, Darragh O’Donovan, who lifted the John Daly Cup, told the crowd of supporters who had flooded the pitch that the time of their team’s success had arrived. Finitely, Doon ended Na Piarsaigh’s title streak, who had achieved eight Limerick SHC victories since their first senior title 13 years ago.
Doon’s team included 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, and D Stapleton (0-1). The substitutes for this game were C Ryan replacing Thomas (37 mins), M O’Brien for Stapleton (51), and P Cummins for C O’Donovan (59).
The players for NA PIARSAIGH included S Dowling, who scored 0-2 (all frees), V Harrington, M Casey, E McEvoy, M Foley who pitched in with 0-1, W O’Donoghue, J Boylan, and R Lynch who contributed 0-2 (all frees). Other players were T Grimes, J Carey scoring 0-1, W Henn, C Boylan with 0-1, D Dempsey and A Breen both scoring 1-0 each, and K Downes. Substitutes included P Casey, who added 0-1, replacing Henn at 43 minutes. D Lynch with 0-1 took over from Breen at 51 minutes and K Dempsey substituted Downes at 60 minutes. The referee for the game was J O’Halloran from Bruree.