Limerick SFC reaches quarter-final stage

The quarter finals of the Limerick Senior Football Championship take place this weekend with two all west division fixtures down for decision.

Firstly, Newcastle West take on Ballysteen in Mick Neville Park at 3pm, while later at 5pm in Newcastle West, St Kieran’s face Fr Casey’s.

Newcastle West will be looking to reach a third consecutive semi final as they try to reclaim the Senior title they last won in 2015.

For Ballysteen, they are hoping to make it to the last four for the first time since 2012 when they met Saturday’s opponents.

That game was also held in Mick Neville Park where NCW won out 1-8 to 0-9 before losing out to Drom-Broadford in the replay of the final. This is the sixth consecutive year that the sides will meet in the SFC having been paired in the same group from 2014-2018.

Those six meetings yielded four wins for Newcastle West with a pair of draws. The game in 2012 was the last knockout meeting between the sides. Ballysteen have to go all the way back to 2009, their first year in the senior ranks, for their last victory over their West rivals, a 2-3 to 0-8 win.

Newcastle West come into this game off the back of a top-of-the-table clash with Doon where they were defeated by a point. Up to that game they had a 100% record in the championship.

Ballysteen’s last result, a 2-19 to 0-12 win over St Senan’s, guaranteed their progress after back-to-back losses against Adare and Fr Casey’s disrupted their early season form.

The winner of this game will face back-to-back county champions Adare in the semi final.

A couple of hours later, the semi-final line-up will be complete as Oola await the winners of St Kieran’s and Fr Caseys. This is Fr Casey’s first time in the knockout stage since 2016, when they were defeated by St Patrick’s. The last time the Abbeyfeale side reached the last four was in 2014.

St Kieran’s have more knockout pedigree in recent years, but have failed to reach the semi finals since 2013. The sides met in Round 4 of the championship last year with Kieran’s winning out 0-11 to 0-7 as they advanced to the quarter finals.

The previous meeting was in 2015 as Casey’s ran out comprehensive 2-11 to 1-6 winners. Casey’s are the form team coming into this game with four wins from five in the 2019 championship, with their only reversal coming against Adare in Round 2.

Since then they’ve gone three from three against Ballylanders, Ballysteen and Monaleen.

St Kierans meanwhile finished third in Group 2, with three victories and a pair of losses. Those losses came against Newcastle and Oola in Rounds 2 and 4 respectively. However, they did book their place in the quarter finals in emphatic fashion with a 4-15 to 1-6 win over Galbally.