Limerick SFC round up.

This weekend saw the second round of the Limerick SFC played out across the county. The clubs now face a 7 week break from the competition due to the commencement of the Limerick SHC and Limerick’s Munster Hurling and Football Championship campaigns. For some, the break will provide a well earned rest, whist for others it allows for some reflection on what went wrong.

All teams have played two games thus far except for Na Piarsaigh and Adare, whose second round clash has been refixtured for May 20. Here we will look back at the second round of Limerick SFC games.

Group 1

Monaleen continued their impressive defence of their title, comfortably overturning Fr Caseys 4-15 to 1-10 in Mick Neville Park on Friday evening.

Monaleen started brightly and found themselves 1-7 to 0-3 ahead after 20 minutes. Brian O’Donovan continuing his hot streak in front of goal for the city side.

Despite being heavily on top for the duration of the first period, Fr Caseys were given a lifeline before half time with a Daniel Daly reducing the gap to 1-9 to 1-4 before the interval.

Monaleen seemed intent on laying down a marker in the second half as they put the Abbeyfeale men to the sword. After scoring 3 goals last time out against Rathkeale, Monaleen went one better this week with Ger Collins notching two goals and Luke Kavanagh another to secure a 14-point win and leaving Monaleen on maximum points.

On Saturday evening, Rathkeale and Drom-Broadford played out a highly entertaining 1-9 to 0-12 draw in Newcastle West.

It was Rathkeale who started the brighter in the clash between the two west clubs with Seamus Keating goaling for the men in blue inside the opening three minutes. John O’Gorman replied for the 2013 champions in a half that saw Rathkeale take a narrow 1-4 to 0-6 lead into the break.

Neither team were able to gain a clear advantage in the second period. Derry McCarthy put Drom ahead in the final 5 minutes and looked to have sealed the win.

However, Keith Hartnett rescued the draw with the third of his night late on. Indeed Eoghan O’Connor had a chance to win the game for Rathkeale in the last minute but was unsuccessful. Rathkeale now have 1 point on the board whilst Drom have 3 and lie in second place behind Monaleen.

Group 2

Newcastle West continued to demonstrate their new found goalscoring touch beating Ballylanders by 4-14 to 1-6 on Friday evening.

The side from the west blitzed their opponents in the opening quarter and a Cian Sheehan goal put them 1-4 to no score ahead. Yet Ballylanders rallied and went into the break only trailing by three, 1-7 to 1-4 with Danny Frewen getting their goal.

Newcastle consolidated their lead in the opening quarter of the second period with Mike McMahon grabbing their second goal of the evening to put them 2-8 to 1-5 ahead.

The final 15 minutes would see NCW nearly double their score as they tagged on a further 2-6 with the goals coming from Iain Corbett and Stephen Kelly.

The 17 point victory leaves NCW top of the pile with maximum points while Ballylanders find themselves on 2 points after their opening round win.

St Patricks got their first win of the campaign defeating a winless Ballysteen 3-10 to 2-7 in Clarina on Friday night.

Pats raced into a 1-3 to no score lead within 10 minutes with Eoin Hanrahan converting from the penalty spot. Hanrahan would get his second goal from the penalty spot in the 18th minute to give Pats a commanding 2-4 to 0-1 lead.

Ballysteen would score 2-4 on the bounce to lead heading into the break. John O’Shaughnessy and Darragh Ranahan scoring the Ballysteen goals to give them a one point lead at half time.

St Patricks started the second better and soon found themselves ahead 2-8 to 2-4 ahead with Hanrahan scoring the pick of the bunch. A Gearoid Hegarty goal with 15 minutes remaining would secure the win for city side.

On Saturday evening St Kierans overcame Oola 0-11 to 0-8 in Bruff.

Kierans took a three point 0-5 to 0-2 advantage into the break with Seamus Mangan and Sean McSweeney in scoring from for the men from the west. Ian Bourke scored both of Oola’s two points.

Kierans lead from start to finish and were deserving winners in the end. Sean McSweeney kicked three points during the game while Seamus Mangan and Darragh Treacy both picked up a brace of points. For Oola, Josh Ryan added 3 second half scores, but Oola never looked like winning.

This result leaves both sides on two points alongside St Pats and Ballylanders heading into the break.

Stand Out Performers: Monaleen and Newcastlewest are head and shoulders above the rest at the moment. Newcastlwest look like a team that have rediscovered their desire to attack and have found goals easy to come by.

A side that surrendered their county title rather tamely last year, the men from West Limerick have laid down a serious marker in the opening two rounds.

For their part, defending champions Monaleen look to have improved again on last year and like Newcastlewest, they have a serious goal threat.

The city side will be go into the break in control of their group but with tricky ties against Na Piarsaigh, Adare and Drom Broadford remaining, they will be taking nothing for granted.