GAA
The Limerick side needed extra time to see off their Clare opposition in Cusack Park on Saturday.
St Kierans have reached the Munster junior club hurling final after a one-point victory over Ennis side Banner AET on Saturday.
Substitute Donie Nolan was the hero for the Limerick side with his third point in extra-time sailing over to give Kierans a winner in Cusack Park and a spot in the final against defending champions Ballygiblin after their 12 point victory over Colligan.
St Kierans’ John Fitzgerald was full of praise for the workrate of his teammates off the bench as they just got over the line and back into the final for the first time since 2012.
“We’ve been talking about our panel all year and that was down to our panel. We took off lads and put them back on again and they made the difference.
“Mossy Shine we put him back on for extra time, he was unbelievable. They brought serious intensity, The Banner, but our boys stood up to it.”
There was no doubting who the Banner’s main threat was coming into the game with Clare senior Shane Meehan hitting 2-12 in the semi-final.
And when asked about the threat Meehan, who scored 12 points including three from play, posed before the game, Fitzgerald gave credit to the rest of the banner team, saying,
“Maybe I suppose maybe we concentrated too much on Shane at times you know and we may not have given enough respect to the rest of their team. And maybe that’s what caught us today at times.”
St Kierans are now back into the Munster final for the first time since 2012 where they were narrowly beaten by Cork opposition.
Fitzgerald spoke about the dedication within the side to ensure they reached another provincial final.
“A lot of boys work nights but they’ll take time off work to get to training. These kinds of things like they are serious about their hurling for people to say it’s a football area but geez they are fairly serious about they’re hurling to be fair.
“Like you say it’s bonus territory but then we’re going there and we want to win. We’re going to get greedy, we want to win this Munster final.”
He was also full of praise for squad members who put their body on the line during the game with one player playing with their “shoulder completely gone.”
“Donie Nolan came back from his third cruciate (injury), to come on and get a score like that, the score of the day, it was outstanding. One lad said his shoulder was completely gone. Darragh Treacy wasn’t available for us today and we’ll have him back for the Munster Final, He’s a massive player for us.”
The Munster Junior Club Hurling final will be played between St Kierans and Ballygiblin on Sunday 4th of December.
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