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Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
18 point win for Doon over Patrickswell in Limerick SHC
Limerick SHC: Doon 3-23 Patrickswell 0-14 Champions flexing their muscle. Eighteen points the margin as Doon stomped all over Patrickswell and got their maiden win of the Limerick SHC. Having waited over 120 years to bring home the blue ribband of Limerick hurling, Derek McGrath's charges look determined collect another Daly Cup. After drawing with Na Piarsaigh at the same venue on Saturday, the men from the East were close to firing their best, after hitting form after an even opening quarter. A run of 1-8 to 0-2 in the final 10 minutes of the opening half ensured that they held an eight-point interval lead. And despite facing into a slight breeze in the second half, they swatted away the Well challenge with second half goals form Kevin Maher and Pat Ryan. For 20-time champions it is time to re-group, well beaten by Ballybrown last time out, they meet parish rivals Patrickswell in just over two weeks time, knowing that a third defeat will all but end their hopes of knockout hurling. With four to progress from this six-team group, focus now must be on securing a top two spot, and a direct route to the semi-final. And while the margin of victory was surprising, the fact that the men in red won this clash is no surprise, given the recent history. As well as a 12-point success in the semi-final last year, they have now won a sixth meeting on the trot, with 2019 now a distant memory for a Patrickswell success. The early signs were positive for Patrickswell, with a 0-7 to 0-5 advantage, with John Murray (2), Diarmaid Byrnes and Mark Carmody all on target as they condensed the midfield and were accurate in attack. However, when Pat Ryan levelled the clash on 19 minutes, Doon took complete control. Chris Thomas surged through for a goal, which was fed to him by Darragh O'Donovan, though he had to sell a dummy before finding the net. Further scores from Donal Coughlan, Gareth Thomas and Adam English left it 1-14 to 0-9 at half-time with Darragh O'Donovan. Jack Kelleher, Diarmaid Byrnes and Aaron Gillane chipped sightly away at the lead at the start of the second half but just a single point in the final twenty minutes meant that was quickly undone. However, it became the Thomas show. Twenty-year-old Gareth assured himself of the Man of the Match selection by adding four points to bring him to a total of seven, while his older brother also raised two white flags, 1-9 from the pair. Kevin Maher and Pat Ryan's scored goals late on to bloat the winning margin. Next up for Doon is a clash with Kilmallock (August 21st). Scorers for Doon: G Thomas (0-7) A English (0-7, 0-4f, 0-1 65); C Thomas (1-2); K Maher (1-1); P Ryan (1-1); D Coughlan (0-3); R English, D O'Donovan (0-1 apiece). Scorers for Patrickswell: A Gillane 0-5 (4f); D Byrnes 0-3 (3f); J Murray (0-2); J Higgins, J Kelleher, K O'Brien, M Carmody (0-1 apiece). DOON: D Stapleton; C O'Donovan, T Hayes, M O'Brien; C Thomas, B Murphy, R English; D O'Donovan (C), A English; G Thomas, E Stokes, J Ryan; Donal Coughlan, K Maher, P Ryan. Subs: E Fitzgibbon for T Hayes (inj – 30+1); C Ryan for O'Brien (55); D Coleman for Stokes (56); A O'Connell for R English (56). PATRICKSWELL: J Gillane; K Lynch, N Foley, E Eoin; D Byrnes, J Kelleher, E Fitzgerald; J Murray, C Fitzgerald; J Higgins, C Lynch, M Carmody; A Gillane (C), K O'Biren, P Kirby. Subs: T O'Brien for K O'Brien (37); L Fitzgerald for Carmody (45); H Maher for Kirby (inj – 54). Referee: M Sexton (Bruree).
Irish Examiner
31-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Kilmallock off to winning start as they see off Newcastle West in Limerick SHC
Limerick SHC: Kilmallock 0-23 Patrickswell 0-18 Kilmallock got off to a flying start in the Limerick Senior Hurling Championship with a 0-23 to 0-18 win over Patrickswell in Newcastle West. Limerick star Shane O'Brien excelled for Kilmallock, despite being sent off midway through the second half, with 10 points while on the field. It was a dominant performance from James Hickeys' side with Patrickswell overly reliant on county duo Aaron Gillane and Diarmaid Byrnes, who chipped in with 17 of their 18 points. Kilmallock were full value for their victory and led by five at the end of a first half where O'Brien shone. Playing at wing forward for most of the half, O'Brien fired over six points, four of which came from play. He opened the scoring with two minutes on the clock but it was soon cancelled out by a Byrnes free. Blood sub Stephen Quirke typified Kilmallock's attitude with their next score, mere seconds after he came onto the field. Conor Staunton landed the next to stretch their lead to two. Gillane hit the target to cut that gap to one and the sides eventually drew level on 20 minutes at six apiece after Byrnes landed a second free. It was from there that Kilmallock edged ahead. O'Brien (2), Conor Hanley-Clarke, Gearoid Enright and Phelim O'Reilly all landed blows with a solitary Gillane free in response for Patrickswell. That saw the score at 0-12 to 0-7 in the lead up to half time. O'Brien was at it again with the opening score of the second half as Patrickswell struggled to tie down the Kilmallock sharpshooter. Kilmallock had stretched their advantage to eight points by the time O'Brien received a second yellow card, followed by a red, heading into the final quarter but Patrickswell were unable to find a goal to edge their way back in and Killmallock ran out convincing winners. Scorers for Kilmallock: S O'Brien (0-10, 4f), O O'Reilly (0-3), C Staunton and P O'Reilly (0-2 each), S Quirke, C Hanley-Clarke (0-1, 1f), G Enright, D Woulfe, P Connery (1f) and K O'Donnell (0-1 each). Scorers for Patrickswell: A Gillane (0-12, 10f), D Byrnes (0-5, 4f), J Higgins (0-1). KILMALLOCK: C Hanley-Clarke; D O'Brien, M O'Loughlin, L English; R Egan, A Costello, P O'Reilly; G Enright, K Hayes; C Staunton, M Houlihan, T Savage, O O'Reilly, D Woulfe, S O'Brien. Subs: S Quirke for D O'Brien (blood sub, 4), P Connery for Savage (50), S Quirke for Enright (50), K O'Donnell for Staunton (60). PATRICKSWELL: J Gillane; K Lynch, N Foley, E Harmon; D Byrnes, C Carroll, E Fitzgerald; J Murray, C Fitzgerald; J Higgins, C Lynch, K O'Brien; P Kirby, A Gillane, M Carmody. Subs: T O'Brien for K O'Brien (38), H Maher for C Fitzgerald (41), L Fitzgerald for Carmody (50), J Carrig for Foley (54). Referee: E Stapleton (Doon).
Irish Examiner
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
'At no time did I think I would be playing with Limerick again' - Keeper Josh Ryan on miraculous return to football after leg break
The unlikely goalkeeper. The grateful goalkeeper. The I-don't-want-to-be-in-here-forever goalkeeper. Limerick football teams appearing in championship deciders of any hue are a rare enough occurrence. Collating such lists is not a menial task. It is a task requiring no more than a few minutes. At senior inter-county level, tomorrow's Tailteann Cup final is just the second such final appearance of the past 15 seasons. The other was the 2022 Munster decider. Josh Ryan wore No.14 that Munster final Saturday. This coming Saturday, he'll wear No.1. Truth be known, he is thankful to be in a position to pull on any jersey at all. Given the incident is almost three-years-old at this stage, you may or may not be familiar with the story of Josh Ryan's leg break. October 16, 2022. Limerick SHC semi-final. Doon versus Kilmallock. Seven minutes elapsed at Bruff. Crack. Snapple. Pop. The half-back's tibia lay in smithereens, broken in three places. The leg break was so severe that for a small window there were fears of the leg possibly being lost. Indeed, when Ryan was first put on an operating table and opened up, they didn't have a nail long enough to secure the smashed tibia. An external fixator was instead employed to keep the leg straight and prevent any movement. Against Wicklow in the Tailteann Cup semi-final three weeks ago, and three years on from his top-scoring 2022 summer, he stopped a 57th minute Oisin McGraynor penalty at a time when Limerick trailed by the minimum. Ten minutes later, the Mallow-based Garda landed a massive two-point free - the kick travelled 63 metres - to cement another championship final involvement for the Treaty. What went between was suffering, self-doubt, and far too much sitting around. 'With the injury and the extent of it, did I think I'd see the day again that I would be wearing a Limerick jersey? Not really,' Ryan admits. 'I might have seen the day of wearing a club jersey, but at no time did I think I'd be playing with Limerick again. I am extremely grateful for that.' Ryan celebrates scoring a two-pointer from a free late in the second half during the Tailteann Cup semi-final against Wicklow at Croke Park. File picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile Surgery was October 2022. It was five months later before the crutches were given their P45. The early days of weight bearing kept his cup of worry filled to the brim. The leg would be swollen after just 20 unsupported minutes. He trained the Oola footballers for the 2023 season where he was sidelined. He literally trained them from the sideline. 'You'd be sitting down training the lads and shouting as much as you can to get them to do things. But it is very hard when you are sitting down and static. The days are very long when you are sitting at home. You just want to be active,' the 27-year-old says in reflection. Once he began properly loading, he began walking three and four kilometres just to get some bit of movement into the for-so-long dormant leg. The pain roared. So too did his lungs. Breaks were required 300 and 400 metres in. 'That all just put so much doubt in my mind as to how am I ever going to run again when I am struggling to walk. From being involved in teams my whole life and playing since I was four, I was saying to myself, 'Jesus, am I ever going to get the chance to play sport again or am I going to be sitting on my leg coaching teams at 24 and 25 years of age? Not knowing was the toughest part.' December, 2023. The leg break and surgery are 14 months in the rearview mirror. Only now has he reached the point where running can be attempted. But even at that, his return to running must be attempted within the safety structure of an anti-gravity treadmill. There began a tortuous 13 weeks inside in the UPMC sports medicine clinic on the TUS campus. 'Getting used to impact and foot-striking again was really difficult. You'd look at the anti-gravity machine and say, this will be handy. But then you'd get off it and you'd be drowned in sweat. It was incredibly tough. There was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears throughout the whole course of rehab because you just don't know if you are ever going to play again, never mind wear a Limerick jersey.' March 16, 2024. Exactly 17 months to the day since the disastrous Limerick hurling semi-final. He has again in his possession a Limerick jersey. Mind you, the number on the back is the last one he ever envisaged wearing. Donal O'Sullivan's retirement the previous winter had left a sizable void. In the pre-season McGrath Cup, Aaron O'Sullivan and Jeffrey Alfred were auditioned. For the opening five rounds of their Division 3 League campaign, O'Sullivan held first-choice status. But facing a tricky breeze in the first half of their Round 5 fixture at home to Clare, O'Sullivan struggled from the kicking tee and was replaced by Jack English three minutes before the break. For Round 6 in Aughrim, Josh Ryan was a most unexpected selection between the sticks. His first inter-county game since the last-12 qualifier defeat to Cork in June 2022. He kept a clean sheet and converted four frees in a 0-9 to 0-8 defeat. He was back. He's started 21 of their 22 games since. He doesn't want to stay there. 'Obviously I took the hands off the lads when they asked me to play in goals because I wasn't in a position to play out-field as I was still getting pain in the leg. Playing in goal is great, but the end goal is to get back out the field with Limerick.' For now, the No.1 shirt, and indeed all green shirts, is in good hands. 'Everyone in the panel gets on so well, there are no egos, and everyone is there for the betterment of Limerick football. We are all there because we want to leave Limerick football in a better place than it was for the next generation.' Read More Oisin McConville extends stay as Wicklow boss
