Kilbrittain 1-23

Knockaderry (Limerick) 1-16

JOHNNY CAROLAN REPORTS

KILBRITTAIN manager Joe Ryan hailed his team’s ability to dig deep in tricky conditions as they carried their county championship-winning form into Munster.

Last Saturday, the Ambers made their provincial championship debut with a tricky assignment away to Limerick’s Knockaderry but, once they settled after conceding the game’s first two points, Kilbrittain were the better side in this provincial semi-final.

They moved 0-7 to 0-2 ahead and, while the concession of a goal did bring the game level coming up to half-time, Kilbrittain responded well again to take an 0-11 to 1-6 lead in at the break.

When Luke Griffin struck for a goal early in the second half, it was 1-12 to 1-8 and Kilbrittain never looked back from there.

‘It was a bit of a sluggish start,’ said Ryan, ‘but at half-time we said it was a bit of the unknown and I think it's easy when they're on their home ground, anything at all is big – a sideline won, a block-down – so it was hard for us.

‘What we said at half-time was that, even though we felt we should have had more because we were with the wind, just to not under-estimate it because they definitely should have had more in the first half, too.

‘I think it was eye-opening for the lads, but when things weren't going well for us, we were able to dog it out and we had the quality then to finish it.’

Kilbrittain's Ronan Crowley was on target in the win.

Seán Sexton at midfield was exceptional as Kilbrittain got on top after giving Knockaderry the head-start of two Mark Danaher frees, while Mark Hickey’s marksmanship from frees was vital too. Philip Wall and Bertie Butler were also to the fore as they established an 0-8 to 0-4 advantage before Danaher landed a free and then nipped in for a goal when a delivery wasn’t dealt with.

While the next two points were shared between Conor Hogan and Knockaderry’s Enda Moran, a free and a 65 from Hickey sent Kilbrittain in leading.

Within a minute of the restart, Wall and Butler combined for Hogan’s second, though Knockaderry replied through Moran and Danaher while Kilbrittain lost Sexton to injury.

They were not fazed by it, though – Butler moved to midfield, where he and Josh O’Donovan asserted control and sub Conor Ustianowski reacted well to a goalmouth scramble by setting up Griffin for the goal.

Their lead would never be less than four points after that, with Knockaderry’s cause affected by red cards for Liam Molyneaux and then former Limerick senior Tom Condon. The lead was 11 at one stage before a late Knockaderry flurry but the outcome was not in doubt.

Hickey finished with 12 points in a superb display: he didn’t miss a single dead ball and their total of 1-23 was set against just four wides, with only one of those in the opening 51 minutes of action. The efficiency was a step up from the county championship and Ryan hopes to see more of the same as they move on to a final meeting with Waterford’s Kilrossanty.

‘It's funny,’ he said, ‘it's kind of a thing that I wouldn't necessarily see as a negative – we want them to shoot and we encourage them to be ambitious.

‘Our average was way better today than it was over the championship and so hopefully better again in two weeks.’

The reward is a Munster junior hurling final against Waterford side Kilrossanty on November 29th, the Déise men beating Cahir by 4-14 to 0-11 in their semi-final last weekend.

Scorers

Kilbrittain: Mark Hickey 0-12 (9f, 1 65); Luke Griffin 1-2; Conor Hogan 0-3; Bertie Butler, Josh O’Donovan 0-2 each; Philip Wall, Ronan Crowley 0-1 each.

Knockaderry: Mark Danaher 1-11 (9f, 1 65); Enda Moran 0-2; M Molloy, E Foley, Ronan Keating 0-1 each.

Kilbrittain: David Desmond; Darragh Considine, James Hurley, Eoin O’Neill; Tomás Sheehan, Aaron Holland, Colm Sheehan; Seán Sexton, Josh O’Donovan; Mark Hickey, Luke Griffin, Ronan Crowley; Conor Hogan, Philip Wall, Bertie Butler.

Subs: Conor Ustianowski for Sexton (33, injured), Nick O’Donovan for Considine (50), Thomas Harrington for Crowley, Declan Harrington for O’Donovan (both 55), Eoin Byrne for Hurley (58).

Knockaderry: Micheál O’Sullivan; David Moloney, Liam Molyneaux, Eddie Foley; Jack Molloy, Tom Condon, Darragh Lyons; Gearóid Fenniman, Mike Molloy; Kieran Storin, Rob Egan, Steven McMahon; Enda Moran, Brendan Guiry, Mark Danaher.

Subs: Colm O’Connor for Guiry (41), Eoin O’Connor for Egan, Ronan Keating for Storin (both 51).

Referee: John Bugler (Clare).