Kilmallock seal knockout place while Mungret St Pauls keep hopes alive

There were two games played in the Limerick SHC on Friday evening.

Defending champions Kilmallock booked their place in the knockout stages of the Limerick Senior Hurling Championship with a hard fought win over Ahane while Mungret St Pauls just overcame South Liberties in group two.

Despite very differing campaigns thus far, Kilmallock were made to work for their 1-22 to 1-16 victory over Ahane who remain on just a point from their four outings.

Kilmallock’s win moves them to six points and they will face Doon in a straight shoot out for the second semi-final spot if they avoid defeat against Patrickswell this evening.

In Doon, Kilmallock hit the ground running immediately with Oisin O’Reilly goaling for their opening score. They then added four points without reply with the writing on the wall for Ahane.

But led by Tom Morrissey, Ahane battled into the contest and trailed 1-11 to 0-7 at the interval. Kilmallock moved eight clear but a goal from Morrissey breathed new life into the East side who reduced the margin to just two.

Kilmallock moved four clear and from there they powered to victory to seal their place in the last six at the least.

In group two, Mungret St Pauls kept their quarter-final hopes alive as they beat South Liberties by the slimmest of margins in Claughaun.

A late Rory Duff effort was enough to secure a 1-24 to 2-20 win and draw them level on points with their opponents.

Liberties had the better of the opening exchanges opening up a double scores 0-6 to 0-3 lead after hitting three on the bounce, Tom Ryan bagging a couple.

Mungret drew level on 18 minutes with Brian O’Meara finding the top corner with a brilliant strike. But Liberties dominated the next ten minutes as Ken Byrnes’ goal had them 1-13 to 1-7 to the good.

The City side replied with three in a row to end the half at 1-13 to 1-10.

Mungret had three on the bounce to level proceedings with the sides exchanging scores thereafter. But slowly Mungret started to pull away and were five to the good with fifteen to play, Paul O’Brien hitting ten points in the second half alone.

Liberties were then handed a lifeline when Barry Nash pounced to flick into the Mungret net and within two minutes they were level again. The East side then took the lead through Nash but Mungret hit back with three in a row to establish a two point advantage. Nash made it a one-point game from a free in injury time before levelling with another placed ball.

But with time deep in the red, Rory Duff fetched a Conor O’Brien puckout, firing over from the sideline to take the spoils and bring their quarter-final hopes to the last day.