NA Piarsaigh will have to meet Crusheen again next Sunday after the two sides finished level yesterday 1-11 to 0-14 in the Munster Club Hurling Final last weekend. A total of 1-6 from placed balls from Shane Dowling made sure that Sean Stack’s side lived to fight another day after a dogged battle with the Clare Champions.
“Who gets their head around it (the draw), that’s the team that is going to win,” said Stack after the game. It looks as though Na Piarsaigh have more to give, but a wet day could favour the stronger more physical Crusheen.
With the first game so tight, it is all to play for even more this weekend.
The replay is set for Sunday December 4th at 2:00pm in Semple Stadium Thurles. The game will be refereed this weekend by Cathal McAllister of Cork. If needed there will be two periods of extra time to be played and if both sides finish level after that, then another replay would be fixed for Saturday December 10th. As it is a replay this weekend, the Munster GAA have reduced prices to Adults – €15, Student/OAP – €10
Also, as per the policy of the Munster Council for replays, there will be a one euro reduction on the price of the match programme.
Scorers — Crusheen: P Vaughan 0-5 (3f, 1 ‘65’), F Kennedy, P Meaney 0-2 each, C O’Doherty (1f), Cathal Dillon, J Fitzgibbon, D Forde, G O’Grady 0-1 each. Na Piarsaigh: S Dowling 1-7 (1-0 pen, 0-6f), D Breen, A Breen, C King, J Madden 0-1 each.
Crusheen — D Tuohy; S Brigdale, Cronan Dillon, A Brigdale; C O’Doherty, Cian Dillon, Cathal Dillon; P Vaughan, J Meaney; G O’Donnell, J Fitzgibbon, D Forde; P Meaney, G O’Grady, F Kennedy. Subs: C O’Donnell for Forde (55).
Na Piarsaigh — P Kennedy; C King, K Breen, K Bermingham; B Hartnett, J O’Brien, A Dempsey; P Gleeson, K Kennedy; K Ryan, D Breen, S O’Neill; S Dowling,K Downes, A Breen. Subs: D Lynch for A Breen (h-t), A Hennessy for Bermingham (44), J Madden for Gleeson (50) D Quigley for O’Neill (57).
In other news, The AIB Munster Club Intermediate Hurling Final between Charleville (Cork) and Cappamore (Limerick) will be played as a double-header in Mallow on Sunday week December 11th. This is keeping with the tradition of completing the Munster Club Championship with a double-header of Munster Club Finals in the Mallow GAA Complex as first introduced in 2008.
