Senior Hurlers Make it 2 from 2

Our Senior Hurlers maintained their winning ways with a 5-point victory over Ahane on Saturday evening. Ahane raced into a 4 point lead inside the first 5 minutes, it taking us until the 6th minute for Will Henn to register our first score. Dylan Lynch pointed 2 of his own early on, having replaced Kevin Downes in the starting lineup prior to throw in.

Ahane looked dangerous in attack, and they stuck a goal on 18 minutes. The goal put them into a 1-06 to 4 point lead. Things could have got worse but for a brilliant save by the Dow moments later. Shane had a solid evening in goals with his puck-outs being meticulous and keeping Ahane goalless for the remainder of the game.

Tommy Grimes gets away from Ahane's Gary Brennan.

On 21 minutes, Daithí found the net for Na Piarsaigh. Picking up the ball on the 45, he made his way towards our opponents goal. It would have been easy to slot over the bar but he had only one thing on his mind. We were now getting a foothold on the game. Mike Foley had added 3 points of his own from play with Ronan Lynch converting 3 from placed balls. Conor Boylan popped one over just before the half-time whistle to see us into the dressing room with a 4-point lead. Half time score: Na Piarsaigh 1-12 Ahane 1-08.

The second half started as the first half finished with another point from the stick of Conor Boylan. Tommy Grimes decided to add his name to the scoresheet with one from distance on 32 minutes. Ahane were keeping themselves in the game with Tom Morrisey maintaining a 100% record from frees. Tommy added another along with Mike Foley converting his 4th of the day from open play. Dow chipped in with long range free close to the hour mark. 4 points was now the margin.

The games was looking to be wrapped up with Ahane not getting a sniff of goal in the second half. There was a slight shaky moment close to the end where Gearoid Synnott had a bit of brain fart with his pass across goals being intercepted by Tom Morrissey. The Ahane man was quickly closed down and forced into driving the ball wide. Misplaced pass aside, Gearoid had an excellent game in the corner, replacing the injured Emmet McEvoy in the starting lineup. Final score: Na Piarsaigh 1-22 Ahane 1-17

The Dow doesn't require all 5 fingers when catching a ball.

We now face into a 3-week break before taking on Doon on the weekend of the 30th of August. It must be noted the long awaited and welcome return of 3 Na Piarsaigh men to competitive action both this weekend and last. Sean Long coming off the bench in the first 2 rounds of the senior championship, along with Jerome Boylan being introduced on Saturday night after a lengthy spell on the sideline. Alan Dempsey also made his return to play last weekend with the Premier Intermediate hurlers having missed all of last season due to injury. Great to see the lads all back in the blue of Na Piarsaigh.

Team: Shane Dowling(0-01, 1ft), Cathal King, Mike Casey, Gearoid Synnott, Vince Harrington, Mike Foley(0-04), Tommy Grimes(0-02), William O’Donoghue, Wayne Kearns, JJ Carey, Conor Boylan(0-02), Ronan Lynch(0-06, 6f), Dylan Lynch(0-02), Daithí Dempsey(1-00), Will Henn(0-04).

Subs used: John Fitzgerald(0-01) for Wayne, Keith Dempsey for Will Henn, Jerome Boylan for Vince, Sean Long for Tommy.

Premier Intermediates Suffer Disappointing Loss at the hands of Blackrock

Sunday afternoon in Bruff saw us go down to a 9-point loss to last year’s Premier Intermediate finalists Blackrock. Playing against a strong breeze in the first half, we entered the break trailing by 4 points. We had played well in parts in the opening 30 minutes but we lost some of our scoring threat early on with Marcus Hogan crying off with hamstring injury. The wind proved to be of little benefit to us in the second half, registering just the 4 scores, and in some ways inspired our opponents to up their game. Pat Gleeson and Dean McLoughlin were also withdrawn due to injury in this period. A disappointing day at the office considering the excellent performance given in our loss to Effin last week. Final score: Na Piarsaigh 1-11 Blackrock 1-20

Team: Evan Condon, John O’Keefe, Mark O’Connor, Jim Beary(0-01), James Finn(1-00), James O’Brien(0-02, 1f), Dean McLoughlin, Pat Gleeson, Alan Dempsey, Kevin Daly, Evan Sweeney(0-05, 3f), Josh Sheehan, Marcus Hogan(0-02), Kevin Ryan, James Daly.

Subs used: Pa O’Neill(0-01) for Marcus Hogan, Bradley Moran for Pat Gleeson, Ronan Benson for Dean McLoughlin, Mark Hogan for James Daly.

The Na Piarsaigh Premier Intermediate squad that lined out against Blackrock on Sunday.

Junior C Hurlers Record The Clubs First Ever Victory At the Grade

Our Junior C hurlers had an 8-point victory over Ballybrown in Páirc Uí Dromgúil on Friday night. A solid display from start to finish by a team that lost out narrowly to Kildimo Pallaskenry in the opening round and suffered a heavy loss to Monaleen in round 2. Well done to Tom Quinn, Cian Doherty and all the players on the result and for their efforts in driving on the team this year.

Team: Podge Kennedy, Neill O’Gorman, Kevin McNamara, Cathal Hassett, Brian Buckley, Mike Andrews, John Leahy, Jack McCarthy, Eoin Sherlock, Gordon Leonard, John O’Tiarnaigh, Leon Power, Ben O’Regan, Eddie O’Neill, Conor Stack.

Subs used: Stephen McKeown, Colm Downey, Shane Downey, Jamie Wilson, Gareth Airey, Jason Ronan.

Our Junior C squad that defeated Ballybrown on Friday night.

Minor Hurlers Dig Deep to Get Over Garryspillane

Played in wet, greasy conditions in Páirc Uí Dromgúil, our minor hurlers had to grind out a well earned win last Wednesday night against a dogged Garryspillane team. While the scoreboard had us finish the game 7 points to the good, the match itself felt much closer for the majority of the 65 minutes. The absentee list for this tie was made up of David O’Keefe, Jack Hannon, Thomas Fitzgerald and Adam Fitzsimons. Darragh Jordan resumed his position between the sticks while Ronan Benson started on the bench, him feeling slightly under the weather earlier in the week. His time on the sideline didn’t last long as he was called into action after 15 minutes with Tadhg Mullane coming off due to injury.

The Bouncers started the game well with 2 scores from play. We followed this with a point from Shane Waters and an Alex Kearns free. Then came our first goal chance of the game. Garryspillane’s puck out was caught by Alex in the middle of the field, delivered to Shane inside, who gave a well-timed pass to a running Mark Hogan. He forced a good save by the keeper. Mark quickly made up for the missed goal chance with a cool score from play. On 12 minutes, Louis won a valuable possession on the 45, passed to Harry McGann, who laid off to Shane. Shane proceeded to ride 2 tough tackles and slot the ball over the bar. The bouncers hit back with 2 of their own scores from play. 15 minutes gone, trailing 7 points to 5, and definitely raining.

Danny Sheehan on the charge in the first half. Once again, Danny had a commanding game at center back.

On 20 minutes Brossie won a ball in the middle of the field, took a few belts for his trouble and delivered to Paul Mc at 14. Our full forward got around his man and slotted between the posts. A good score, well earned. The next phase of play saw the Bouncers full forward win a high ball, followed by a tussle with John O’Keefe. Referee Donnacha O’Callaghan awards a free in for our opponents. Fair enough. Well, the Garryspillane man wasn’t happy with his free and proceeded to pull the helmet clean off John’s head. Mild chaos ensued with the Garryspillane sideline. Ronan Lynch got involved. Hard to know what Lynchy said. We think the “W” word was used. A word more common to the Association Football terraces in England. Tempers calmed and the ref threw in the ball.

Our full back line gave a solid display throughout, limiting their front 3 to scraps in the first half. All bar conceding a penalty in which Darragh psyched out the taker into driving the placed ball high and wide. The resulting puck out was taken quickly, straight to Danny at centre back, who played it down the field to Bermo, who had just been introduced for Leon. Bermo held the ball up, got it out to Shane who helped himself to his third point of the opening half. Just on the stroke of half time with us leading by 2, Harry battled back possession in the middle of the field, gave a lovely pass to Alex who sees Bermo coming at speed. Only one thing on this mans mind, and that’s goals. Bermo roofs his second goal in as many games. Half time score: Na Piarsaigh 1-10 Garryspillane 0-08

Our opponents got the first 4 scores of the second half and were looking energised after the break. You wouldn’t think they were down to 14 with the way they were playing but such was the case. The rain had settled but conditions were still very slippery underfoot. Our first clean possession of this half and we won a penalty, Paul Mc being dragged down in the area. Alex stepped up and blasted off the crossbar. He settled for a point. Garryspillane got 2 more scores before Louis pointed after having 3 or 4 hurleys broken off him in the process. The Bouncers then hit us for a goal. The attacker soloed in from the left, hand passed across the 14 to the man waiting to double on it into the corner. The Bouncers were now 2 ahead with 43 minutes played. Paul Mc responded with a good point from play and Alex from way out, scoring from a free. The Woodview man was 100% from placed balls this week, which was serious going considering the tough conditions. On 50 minutes, Brossie took possession in a dangerous position, went straight at goal and buried it. As with Louis’ point 10 minutes earlier, Brosie had a few hurley’s wore off him on his way to scoring. The flakes weren’t fazing our man.

Garryspillane had a second man sent off with their wing back taking a second yellow on 55 minutes. The following play saw Mark Hogan outpace his man and stick Na Piarsaigh’s third goal of the game. Our comfortable safety net didn’t last long with us conceding a goal and point in quick succession. Bermo grabbed an important point to settle us back into the game and kill any of their momentum. Shane Waters closed out the game with 2 more points from play, bringing his tally to 6 points for the day. Not a bad return for a man who was still playing in the Féile earlier this year. Notable other performances from our 2 corner backs in Sean Harrington ad Brian Connolly, along with Danny at 6 and Harry McGann at midfield. Final score: Na Piarsaigh 3-21 Garryspillane 2-17

The result sees us topping the group alongside Monaleen. Details of the knockout stage will follow in the coming days. It's looking like we'll be pitted against Murroe Boher in the semi-final. Details TBC.

Team: Darragh Jordan, Sean Harrington, John O’Keefe, Brian Connolly, Michael Duggan, Danny Sheehan, Tadhg Mullane, Harry McGann, Leon Power, Louis Murphy (0-01), Mark Hogan (1-01), Alex Kearns (0-09, 6f 1’65), Shane Waters (0-06), Paul McDonagh (0-02), Eoin Brosnan (1-01).

Sub used: Ronan Benson, Conor Bermingham (1-01), Joseph Corcoran. Subs not used: Ben O’Regan, Marcus Murphy.

Our Minor Hurling squad that defeated Garryspillane last Wednesday night.

Tipp Masters Hurling 2024

We would like congratulate Evan Sweeney, member of both our Premier Intermediate hurling and Senior football teams on being selected for the Tipp Masters Hurling Squad for 2024. It’s worth Googling the squad if you have a spare minute. Tipp are getting the gang back together!

Upcoming Fixtures

Monday - Junior B Hurling Cship Rd 1 Vs Mungret, Mungret 19:30

Tuesday – Minor Football Cship Semi-final Vs Adare, Clarina 18:45

Thursday – Senior Football Cship Rd 3 Vs St. Kieran’s, Clarina 18:45

Thursday – U14 Hurling Cship Vs Murroe Boher, Murroe Boher 19:00

Sunday – Junior B Hurling Cship Rd 2 Vs Crecora, Páirc Uí Dromgúil 19:00