PREVIEW | City Rivals Mungret St Pauls and Ballybrown clash for Premier U21 Hurling Honours

The teams meet in a repeat of the 2020 minor premier final where Ballybrown retained their title.

City rivals Ballybrown and Mungret St Pauls face off in the Limerick Premier U21 Hurling Championship final this Sunday in Ballyagran.

The sides met in the premier minor final in 2020 where Ballybrown were comprehensive winners as they claimed the title with a 3-23 to 0-20 victory.

Ballybrown joined Mungret St Pauls in the Limerick Premier U21 Hurling final by virtue of a 0-21 to 0-13 win over Ahane on Tuesday evening. The City side finished strong, after Ahane drew level just after the interval. Colin Coughlan and Aiden O’Connor scores took the game away from Ahane resulting in an eight point win for last year’s Premier U19 kingpins.

This semi final win means Ballybrown maintained their unbeaten run on the way to the final having already beaten Sunday’s opponents Mungret St Pauls in their round two game as well as victories over Patrickswell and Na Piarsaigh. 

In that previous clash with Mungret, Ballybrown were two point winners running out with a 0-18 to 0-16 scoreline. When they met in the 2020 premier minor decider, Ballybrown proved too strong in winning the title.

The outfit will be hoping to add U21s honours to the recent minor and U19 triumphs claimed. In 2018, they claimed the Minor B title, before successive Minor A triumphs in 2019 and ‘20 before winning the Premier U19 championship last year.

Mungret booked their place in the final with a six point win over the defending champions Doon on Monday evening after a brilliant second-half display. Cian Moloney and Cillian O’Gorman both found the net after the restart to help Mungret to a 2-11 to 0-11 victory. 

Three points from Liam Lynch put Mungret two ahead in the first half but Adam English scores kept Doon in touch. Mungret captain Brian O’Meara extended the margin with a point but scores from Kevin Maher and English had the sides level at the break. 

Moloney and O’Gorman struck shortly after the resumption and Mungret hit three quick points after the goals extending their lead to seven as they held out the champions for a deserved win.

Mungret also come into this final in fine form with victory over Na Piarsaigh in the final round booking their semi-final place despite the loss to Ballybrown. They will be looking to rectify that this weekend and also redeem their minor final disappointment two years ago.

It’s anyone’s game this weekend but for the first time in over a decade, the championship title will reside outside of Doon, Na Piarsaigh and Kilmallock who have shared the last 13 titles between them.

The Limerick sides will meet this Sunday for the Premier Minor Hurling Championship title at 2pm in Ballyagran.